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SERMONS 


."-, 


BY  THE  LATE  \      ; 

Rev.  WALTER  BLAKE  KIRWAN, 
DjEJ^JV  OF  KILLMJL. 


WITH 

A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE. 


PHILADELPHIA  I 

PUBLISHED  BT  M.  CAREY,  NO.  121,  CHESNUT  STREET, 

AND  TOR  SALE  BY  WE  LIS  AND  LILLY, 

BOSTON. 

1816 


LOAN  STACK 


a  v  3 


7 


y  e 


It  i      r 


*.£ 


TO 

Mbs.  peter  latquche. 


1*1 


AIA/ 


Madam, 

IT  is  impossible  to  find,  in  the 
community  of  those  by  whom  the 
late  Dean  of  Killala  was  esteemed, 
any  one,  to  whom,  had  he  lived  to 
publish  his  Sermons,  he  would  have 
dedicated  them  in  preference  to  you, 
whom  he  had  so  long  looked  up  to 
as  the  affectionate  and  unaffected 
Patroness  of  the  Widow  and  the  Or- 
phan, for  whom  he  had,  for  eighteen 
years,  been  the  assiduous  and  sue* 
cessful  advocate. 

726 


IV 

Your  kind,  earnest,  unabated  and 
effectual  patronage  of  the  widow  and 
children  of  the  Dean,  from  the  mo- 
ment of  his  death,  would  give  you 
an  original  title  to  have  these  Ser- 
mons dedicated  to  you. 

To  you,  therefore,  with  love,  reve- 
rence, and  gratitude,  these  Sermons 
are  dedicated,  by, 

Madam, 
Your  affectionate, 

Obedient  and  faithful  Friend, 

WILHELMINA  KIRWAN. 

MotTJTT-PLEASANT, 
Jan,  1813. 


A  SKETCH 

OF  THE 

LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 

OF 

THE  REV.  DEAN  KIRWAN. 


THIS  celebrated  preacher  was  descended  from 
an  ancient  and  respectable  Roman  Catholic  family, 
and  born  in  Galway  about  the  year  1754. 

He  was  sent  in  early  youth  to  the  college  of 
English  Jesuits  at  St.  Ouiers,  in  whose  classic 
shades,  as  he  often  declared,  he  imbibed  the  noble 
ambition  of  benefiting  mankind. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  embarked  for  the  Danish 
island  of  St.  Croix,  in  the  West  Indies,  under  the 
protection  of  his  father's  cousin-german,  who  had 
large  possessions  there ;  but  after  enduring  for  six 
years  a  climate  pernicious  to  his  delicate  constitution, 
and  spectacles  of  oppression  and  cruelty  shocking 
to  his  feelings,  ho  returned  to  Europe  in  disgust. 


VI 

By  the  advice  of  bis  maternal  uncle,  then  titular 
primate  of  Ireland,  he  repaired  to  the  University  of 
Louvain,  where  he  received  priest's  orders,  and  was 
soon  after  honoured  with  the  chair  of  natural  and 
moral  philosophy :  but  in  1778  he  was  called  from 
the  sequestered  pursuits  of  science  to  the  cure  of 
souls,  as  chaplain  to  the  Neapolitan  ambassador  at 
the  British  court. 

Before  a  small  but  respectable  congregation  he 
goon  attained  celebrity ;  and  some  of  the  discourses 
which  he  pronounced  in  His  Excellency's  chapel 
were  printed,  and  should  have  formed  part  of  this 
collection,  if  any  copies  of  them  could  have  been 
recovered.  But  he  was  then  only  qualifying  himself 
for  greater  exertions,  and  with  that  view  assiduously 
attended  those  splendid  exhibitions  of  public  speak- 
ing which  were  at  that  time  displayed  in  the  senate 
and  at  the  bar,  where  the  conspicuous  merit  of  his 
countrymen  could  not  fail  to  inflame  his  ardent 
temper  with  enthusiastic  emulation. 

Amidst  this  meridian  blaze  of  eloquence,  the 
church  alone  continued  cold,  and,  (however  enlight- 
ened by  an  improved  philosophy)  had  seldom  been 
warmed  but  by  the  fiery  breath  of  polemical  divinity. 

To  rouse  devotion  from  this  profound  lethargy, 
was  a  daring  novelty  which  demanded  the  powers  of 
a  Kirwan.  Fortunately  for  the  interests  of  humanity, 
be  felt  his  force,  and  seized  the  glorious  opportunity. 
After  two  years  retirement  in  the  bosom  of  his  family, 


Vll 

probably  absorbed  in  the  consideration  of  this  im- 
portant step,  he  at  length,  in  the  year  1787,  resolved 
to  conform  to  the  established  religion  ;  a  determina- 
tion which  was  greatly  promoted  by  the  conviction 
(as  he  himself  declared,)  that  he  should  thus  obtain 
more  extensive  opportunities  of  doing  good.  He 
was,  in  consequence,  introduced  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Hastings,  Archdeacon  of  Dublin,  to  his  first  Pro- 
testant congregation  in  St.  Peter's  church,  where  he 
preached  on  the  &4th  of  June  in  that  year. 

The  first  sermon  of  so  distinguished  a  convert 
Baturally  attracted  an  overflowing  congregation,  who 
•xpected,  that,  according  to  immemorial  usage,  he 
Would  reprobate  the  doctrine  and  practices  of  the 
church  from  which  he  had  withdrawn  ;  but,  instead 
of  "  pulling  down  the  altar  at  which  he  had  sacri- 
ficed," he  exhibited  an  example  of  Christian  meek- 
ness, liberality,  and  conciliation,  in  the  choice  of  a 
subject  utterly  unconnected  with  controversy.  Nor 
did  he,  upon  any  subsequent  occasion,  profane  the 
pulpit  by  religious  or  political  intolerance,  or  even, 
in  his  most  confidential  communications,  breathe  a 
syllable  of  contempt,  or  reproach  against  any  re- 
ligious persuasion  whatever. 

They,  who  are  conscious  of  interested  infirmity, 
naturally  suspect  the  motives  of  a  line  of  conduct 
apparently  calculated  to  invite  promotion :  but  his 
unblemished  and  amiable  life,  fervently  devoted  to 
the  public  good,  may  vindicate  his  preference  of  a 
sphere  in  which  he  could  pursue  that  great  object 


Vlll 

with  the  best  effect :  and  if  he  sometimes  adverted 
to  political  events,  it  was  not  surprising  that  a  zeal- 
ous divine  should  he  shocked  at  the  sudden  crush  of 
all  religious  establishments  in  France,  of  which 
(during  the  captivity  of  the  ill-fated  Louis)  he  was 
partly  an  eye-witness.  As  the  habitual  advocate  of 
humanity,  be  felt  peculiar  horror  at  the  atrocities  of 
an  ungovernable  multitude  ;  but  they  who  were  most 
gratified  by  his  vehement  invectives  against  such 
outrages,  were  often  no  less  surprised  and  humiliated 
by  the  manly  boldness  with  which  he  intermingled 
severe,  though  general,  reprehension  of  their  own 
vices. 

For  some  time  after  his  conformity,  he  preached 
every  Sunday  in  St.  Peter's  church,  and  the  col- 
lections for  the  poor,  on  every  occasion,  rose  four  or 
five-fold  above  their  usual  amount.  Before  the  ex- 
piration of  his  first  year,  he  was  wholly  reserved  for 
the  distinguished  and  difficult  task  of  preaching  cha- 
rity sermons ;  and  on  the  5th  of  November  1788, 
the  governors  of  the  general  daily  schools  of  several 
parishes  entered  into  a  resolution, — "  That  from  the 
"  effects  which  the  discourses  of  the  Rev.  Walter 
"Blake  Kirwan,  from  the  pulpit,  have  had,  his 
"officiating  in  the  metropolis  was  considered  a 
"  peculiar  national  advantage,  and  that  vestries 
"'should  be  called  to  consider  the  most  effectual 
u  method  to  secure  to  the  city  an  instrument,  under 
"Providence,  of  so  much  public  benefit." 


tx 

In  the  same  year  be  was  preferred,  by  tbe  Arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  to  the  prebend  of  Howth,  and  in 
the  next,  to  the  parish  of  St.  Nicholas- Without,  the 
joint  income  of  which  ainouuted  to  about  4UQ1.  a 
year. 

These  were  his  only  church- preferments,  until 
the  year  1800,  when  the  late  Marquis  Cornwailis, 
then  Lord-lieutenant,  preferred  him  to  the  deanery 
of  Killala,  worth  about  4001.  a  year,  at  which  time 
ke  resigned  the  prebend  of  Howth. 

His  ardour  was  not  abated  by  promotion,  nor  his 
meekness  corrupted  by  admiration ;  though  when- 
ever he  preached,  such  multitudes  assembled  that  it 
was  necessary  to  defend  the  entrance  of  the  church 
by  guards  arid  palisadoes.  lie  was  presented  with 
addresses  and  pieces  of  plate  from  every  parish,  and 
the  freedom  of  various  corporations  ;  his  portrait  was 
painted  and  engraved  by  the  most  eminent  artists; 
and  (what  was  infinitely  more  grateful  to  his  feel- 
ings) the  collections  at  his  sermons  far  exceeded  any 
that  ever  were  known  in  a  country  distinguished  for 
unmeasured  benevolence.  Even  in  times  of  public 
calamity  and  distress,  his  irresistible  powers  of  per- 
suasion, repeatedly  produced  contributions  exceeding 
a  thousand  or  twelve  hundred  pounds  at  a  sermon ; 
and  his  hearers,  not  content  with  emptying  their 
purses  into  the  plate,  sometimes  threw  in  jewels  or 
watches,  as  earnest  of  further  benefactions. 


The  native  warmth  of  his  character  breathed 
through  all  his  discourses,  and  animated  his  conver- 
sation. His  action  was  various  and  emphatic,  with- 
out seeming  studied  or  outrageous ;  his  voice  full 
and  melodious ;  and  his  utterance  successively  so- 
lemn, earnest,  melting,  and  impassioned,  without  the 
least  appearance  of  affected  modulation.  His  glance 
was  piercing,  his  countenance  austere  and  command- 
ing, and  his  whole  delivery  was  in  perfect  unison 
with  the  evangelical  style  and  spirit  of  his  discourses, 
which  bore  a  strong  impression  of  vigorous  original 
conception  and  glowing  zeal,  illuminated  by  sound 
judgment  and  a  profound  knowledge  of  human  na- 
ture. 

He  seems  cautiously  to  have  abstained  from  polish- 
ing any  part  of  his  sermons  too  highly,  to  blend  with 
such  extemporaneous  effusions  as  occasional  circum- 
stances suggested,  many  of  which  burst  from  him 
with  a  rapid  and  overwhelming  impetuosity,  that 
hurried  away  the  passions  of  his  auditory  in  resist- 
less ecstacy. 

They  who  expect  high  finishing  and  figurative 
pomp,  and  cannot  be  satisfied  without  poetry  in 
prose,  will  find  nothing  in  these  remains  to  gratify 
their  vitiated  taste.  But,  though  bereft  of  the  magic 
of  emphatic  delivery,  and  the  vigour  and  vivacity  of 
many  extempore  additions,  they  still  present  to  such 
as  duly  weigh  the  proper  objects  of  a  Christian 
orator,  the  revived  spirit  of  the  primitive  fathers  of  the 
church,  purified  from  their  principal  defects.    No 


XI 

quibbling  of  words,  or  anatomizing  of  texts ;  no 
quaint  glosses,  or  strained  applications  of  Scripture ) 
no  pedantic  dissertations  upon  Hebrew  roots ;  no  sub- 
tile skirmishing  with  shadows,  or  insulting  triumphs 
over  unrefuted  infidelity  :  but  a  fervent  and  pressing 
appeal  to  the  understanding  and  the  heart ;  a  copious, 
clear,  and  irresistible  torrent  of  reasoning,  flows  from 
a  thorough  conviction,  and  sincere  anxiety  not  to 
refute  or  revile,  but  to  convince  and  reform. 

From  this  masculine  strain  of  impassioned  exhor- 
tation, conveyed  in  diction  not  florid,  but  elevated ; 
and  with  a  voice  and  manner  not  theatrical,  but  im- 
pressive, resulted  effects  proportionably  solid ;  and 
contributions  (amounting  almost  to  prodigality)  pro- 
duced foundations  which  promise  to  be  permanent 
monuments  of  national  beneficence. 

With  the  new  convert  also  commenced  a  new  era 
in  pulpit  eloquence,  which  has  ever  since  been  ma- 
nifestly improved  ;  while  some,  who  were  astonished 
that  with  equal  exertion  they  could  not  rise  to  equal 
energy,  were  reduced  to  envy  what  they  had  vainly 
tried  to  imitate,  and  traduced  him  as  a  declaimer, 
because  they  could  not  penetrate  his  secret  for  giving 
to  elaborate  composition  the  air  of  immediate  inspi- 
ration. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  several  of  the  pathetic 
addresses  which  first  exalted  his  fame  are  missing ; 
probably  because  he  trusted  chiefly  to  his  excellent 
memory,  or  the  spontaneous   effusion*  of  a  mind 


pregnant  with  thought  and  feeling;.  But  in  pro- 
portion as  his  subject  became  exhausted,  curiosity 
was  abated,  and  invidious  criticism  emboldened. 
It  consequently  became  incumbent  on  him  to  com- 
mit to  writing  the  greater  part,  if  not  the  whole  of 
his  later  sermons,  (which,  as  they  had  cost  him  mors 
labour,  he  was  inclined  to  prefer;)  yet  it  must  be 
remembered  that  they  suffer  all  the  disadvantages  of 
posthumous  publication,  and  the  want  of  many  finish- 
ing touches  which  the  parental  solicitude  of  an 
author  would  undoubtedly  have  bestowed  upon  his 
admired  productions. 

To  correct  every  minute  inaccuracy  would  involve 
the  necessity  of  adding,  as  well  as  transposing  and 
suppressing,  which  (if  not  injurious  to  his  reputa- 
tion) would  be  a  gross  imposition  on  the  public. 
To  aim  at  extreme  exactness,  would,  indeed,  de- 
stroy the  whole  texture  and  character  of  his  style, 
and  would  be  as  absurd  as  employing  a  lapidary  to 
polish  the  dome  of  a  cathedral.  Some  inaccuracies 
must  be  pardoned  to  an  active  imagination.  Some 
redundance  of  expression  contributes  to  popular 
effect :  the  iron  temper  of  the  multitude  cannot  be 
modelled  but  by  a  glowing  heat  and  reiterated 
strokes,  and  amplification  is  essential  to  energy  and 
magnificence:  "Son  amputata  oratio  et  abscissa, 
u  sed  lata  et  magnifiea  et  excelsa,  tonat,  fulgurat, 
"omnia  denique  pcrturhat  ac  miscet.'"' 

The  effects  of  this  vein  of  composition  cannot  be 
more  strikingly   illustrated    than    by    the   beautiful 


panegyric  pronounced  by  Mr.  Grattan  in  the  Irish 
Parliament,  on  19th  of  June,  1792 :— "  And  what 
"has  the  Church  to  expect?   What  is  the  case  of 
"Dr.  Kirwan?  This  man  preferred  our  country  and 
"our  religion,  and  brought  to  both  genius  superior 
"to  what  he  found  in  either.     He  called  forth   the 
"latent  virtues  of  the  human  heart,  and  taught- men 
"to  discover  in  themselves  a  mine  of  charity,   of 
"which  the  proprietors  had  been   unconscious.     In 
"feeding  the  lamp  of  charity,   he   has   almost  ex- 
hausted the  lamp  of  life.     He  came   to  interrupt 
"  the  repose   of   the  pulpit,  and  shake  one  world 
"  with   the   thunder  of  the  other.     The   preacher's 
"  desk  becomes  the  throne  of  light.     Round  him   a 
"  train,  not  such  as  crouch  and  swagger  at  the  levee 
"  of  princes  ;  not  such  as  attend    the   procession   of 
"  the  viceroy,  horse,  foot,   and  dragoons  ;  but  that 
"  wherewith  a  great  genius  peoples  his  own  state, — 
"  charity  in  ecsttcy,  and  vice  in  humiliation; — va- 
"  nity,  arrogance,  and  saucy  empty  pride,  appalled 
"  by  the  rebuke  of  the  preacher,  and  cheated,  for  a 
u  moment,  of  their  native  improbity  and  insolence. — 
"What    reward?     St.     Nicholas-Within,    or     St. 
"  Nicholas- Without !  The  curse  of  Swift  is  upon 
"  him  :  to  have  been  born  an   Irishman   and   a  man 
"of  genius,  and  to  have  used  it  for  the  good  of  his 
"  country." 

On  22nd  of  September  1798,  Mr.  Kirwan  mar- 
wed  Wilhelmina  Richards,  youngest  daughter  of 
Goddard  Richards,  Esq.,  late  of  Grange,  in  the 


xiv 

county  of  Wexford,  with  whom  he  lived  in  uninter- 
rupted harmony  and  happiness :  his  domestic  vir- 
tues exemplified  his  public  precepts;  and  his  whole 
conduct  was  the  more  conspicuous  for  hnegHty, 
kindness,  and  generosity,  as  those  qualities  have 
been  supposed  incompatible  with  a  monastic  educa- 
tion. 

But  the  period  rapidly  approached  when  the  af- 
flicted were  to  deplore  their  ablest  advocate  ;  and 
his  unsparing  exertions,  in  behalf  of  helpless  in- 
nocence and  want,  were  to  receive  their  ultimate 
reward.  Exhausted  by  the  fatigues  of  his  mission, 
this  excellent  man  died,  with  signal  piety  and  resig- 
nation, at  his  house  at  Mount-Pleasant,  p  ar  Dublin, 
on  &7th  of  October,  1805.  His  funeral  was  atten- 
ded to  his  own  church  of  Ht.  Nicholas- Without, 
by  the  children  of  all  the  parish  schools  in  Dublin, 
and  his  pall  was  borne  by  six  gentlemen  of  the  first 
distinction. 

His  widow  was  left  with  two  sons  and  two 
daughters,  with  so  slender  a  provision  that  they 
must  have  pined  in  obscurity  and  indigence,  had  not 
His  Majesty  been  graciously  pleased  to  grant  her  a 
pension  of  3001.  a  year  for  her  life,  with  the  rever- 
9ion  to  her  daughters.  But  for  the  suns  of  him  who 
fell  a  victim  to  his  v»\l  in  the  cause  of  universal  be- 
nevolence, no  provision  whatever  has  hitherto  been 
«ado. 


XV 

May  these  sermons,  which  are  printed  for  then? 
benefit,  enable  their  surviving  parent  to  give  them 
such  an  education,  as  becomes  the  memory  of  their 
revered  father;  to  whom  the  fatherless  and  the 
widow  for  so  many  years  owed  their  •omforts,  and, 
almost,  their  existence ! 


CONTENTS 


SERMON  I. 

[For  the  Schools  of  St.  Peter's  Parish.] 

1  Cor.  x.  24.     Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every 
man  another's  wealth.  -  -  Page  2t 

SERMON  II. 

[For  the  Meath  Hospital.] 

St.  Luke,  xvi.  25.     Son,  remember  that  thou  in 

thy  life  time  receivedst  thy  good  things,  likewise 

Lazarus  evil  things ;   but  now  he  is  comforted, 

and  thou  art  tormented.  43 

SERMON  III. 

Proverbs,  xxxi.  30.     A  woman  that  feareth  the 
Lord  ;  she  shall  be  praised.  -  *  63 

SERMON  IV. 

[In  support  of  the  Female  Orphan  House.] 
Ephes.  vi.  4.     Bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and 

admonition  of  the  Lord.  8? 

<2B 


XVlll 
SERMON  V. 

[*For  the  Female  Orphan  House.] 

St.  John,  xiii.  34.     A  new  commandment  I  give 
unto  you,  that  you  love  one  another.        Page  113 

SERMON  VI. 

[For  the  Female  Orphan  House,  Dec.  23,  1T98.J 

St.  James,  iii.  17.     Tlie  wisdom  that  is  from  above 
is  full  of  ynercy.         -         -         -        -         137 

SERMON  VII. 

[The  Love  of  our  Country.] 

Book  of  Wisdom,  xii.  13.     For  neither  is  there 
any  God  hut  thou  that  carestfor  all.        -        159 

SERMON  VIII, 

I  f,he  Relief  and  Cure  of  diseased  Children,  and  for  Inoc- 
ulation with  the  Cow  Pox.] 

(St.  Mauk,  viii.  36.     What  shall  it  profit  a  man 

\f  fye  gp.in   the  whole  world  and  Ipse  his  own 

mil?  -  J85 


XIX 

t 

SERMON  IX. 

[For  St.  ^Verburg?s  Parish  School,  Jan.  22,  1804.] 

Romans,  x.  %.     For  I  bear  record  that  they  have 
the  zeal  of  God.         -  -  -         Page  205 


SERMON  X. 

*  For  the  Poor  Children  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Nicholas-Without.] 

Psalm,  xviii.  30.     As  for  God  his  way  is  perfect: 

he  is  a  buckler  to  all  those  that  trust  in  him.    227 


SERMON  XI. 

[This  was  a  Charity  Sermon  preached  in  the  Year  1798,  for  the 
Benefit  of  the  Widows  and  Children  of  those  of  the  Yeomen- 
ry  and  Militia,  who  fell  in  the  Rebellion.] 

John,  xin.  34?.    Jl  new  Commandment  I  give  unto 
you,  that  ye  love  one  another.        -        -        %53 


XX 


SERMON  XII. 

CThla  Sermon  was  preached  for  the  Female  Orphan  HwBe.^ 

Psalm  xviii.  JO.  19.      lie  sent  from  above.      IL 

took   me.      He    drew   me  out  of  many  waters 

He  brought  me  forth  also  into  a  large  place.     II 

delivered  me,  because  he  delighted  in  me. 


SERMON  XIII. 

[For  the  Poor  Children  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Nicliolas-Withour, 
March  10,  180J.] 

Job,  v.  7.     Man  is  bom  to  trouble,  as  the  sparks 
fly  upward >,():, 


SERMON  I. 

[For  the  Schools  of  St.  Peter's  Parish.] 

1  Cor.  c.  x.  v.  24. 

?'  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  another's 
wealth." 

THE  possession  of  happiness  is  the  principle  and 
end  of  all  our  actions  and  passions,  our  pleasures 
and  our  pains.  The  common  or  universal  center  to 
which  all  animated  nature  is  hurried  by  rapid  and 
irresistible  movement.  Men  are  united  in  society 
only  to  procure  it.  The  arts  and  sciences  have  been 
invented  only  to  perfect  it.  All  states  and  profes- 
sions are  so  many  channels  in  which  it  is  sought. 
The  great  and  mean,  rich  and  poor,  infancy  and 
age,  passions  and  talents,  virtues  and  vices,  plea- 
sures and  toils,  are  all  engaged  in  the  unremitting 
pursuit  of  it.  In  a  word,  from  the  people  that 
inhabit  the  most  civilized  cities,  to  the  savage  that 
prowls  in  the  bosom  of  the  wilderness ;  from  the 
throne  of  the  monarch  to  the  hut  of  the  most  abject 
peasant,  the  world  is  in  labour  to  bring  forth  true 
peace  and  tranquillity  of  soul. 

C 


22 

My  object  on  Uie  present  oecasion  is  not  to  enquire 
into  tie  secret  of  this  sublime  and  inexhaustible 
science.  I  am  inclined  however  to  believe  that  if  it 
has  any  existence  upon  this  earth,  it  is  probably  in 
the  soul  of  a  true  Christian.  Nor  is  there  ary  des- 
cription of  our  brethren,  however  abject  and  forlorn, 
to  whom  this  tender  and  consoling  invitation  of  our 
blessed  Lord  is  not  oftentimes  addressed  with  effect: 
u  Come  unto  me  all  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
u  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest." 

The  wisdom  of  the  Gospel,  my  friends,  is  chiefly 
addressed  to  the  heart,  and  therefore  is  easily  under 
stood  by  all.  It  is  in  touching  that  it  enlightens  us, 
in  touching  that  it  persuades.  Directed  by  the  light 
of  faith,  the  eye  of  the  true  Christian  is  intensely 
fixed  on  the  great  sphere  of  eternity.  He  hears  the 
solemn  voice  of  his  religion,  which  tells  him,  that  in 
man  there  are  two  distinct  beings,  the  one  material 
and  perishable,  the  other  spiritual  and  immortal.  He 
knows  and  contemplates  the  rapid  advance  of  that 
futurity,  which  is  not  measured  by  the  succession  of 
days  and  nights,  or  the  revolution  of  years  and  ages. 
Before  these  profound  and  magnificent  impressions 
all  worldly  glory  fades.  No  interests  can  possess  or 
transport  his  heart,  but  those  to  which  he  is  invited 
from  above.  No,  not  a  desire  in  his  breast,  not  a 
movement  in  his  life  ;  no  evil  in  his  apprehension,  or 
happiness  in  his  conception,  that  refers  not  to  eter- 
nity; he  is  all  immensity  of  views  and  projects  :  and 
hence  that  true  nobility  of  spirit,  that  calm,  majestic 
indifference  which  looks  down  oa  the  visionary  enter- 


23 

prizes  of  man,  sees  them,  unstable  and  fleeting  as 
the  waves  of  a  torrent,  pressed  and  precipitated  by 
those  that  pursue,  and  scarce  tell  you  where  they 
are,  when  you  behold  them  no  more :  hence  like- 
wise  that  equality  of  soul,  which  is  troubled  at  no 
reverse  or  vicissitude  of  life,  which  knows  not  those 
tormenting  successions,  those  rapid  alternations  of 
pleasure  and  pain,  so  frequent  in  the  breast  of  world, 
lings :  to  be  elevated  by  the  slightest  success, 
depressed  by  the  slightest  reverse,  intoxicated  at  a 
puff  of  praise,  inconsolable  at  the  least  appearance 
of  contempt,  re-animated  at  a  gleam  of  respect,  tor- 
tured by  an  air  of  coldness  and  indifference; 
unbounded  in  all  wishes,  and  disgusted  after  all 
possession,  is  a  spectacle  of  human  misery  that 
would  enhance  the  peace  of  a  true  Christian,  did  all 
the  influence  of  a  divine  religion  not  infuse  into  his 
heart  as  mu^h  pity  for  his.  mistaken  brethren,  as  it 
does  superior  dignity  and  elevation  into  his  sen- 
timents. 

But  without  pursuing  this  character  any  further, 
of  which,  I  would  please  myself  in  thinking,  there 
are  some  living  illustrations  before  me ;  I  beg  leave 
to  observe,  in  nearer  conformity  with  my  text ;  that 
as  self-love  is  the  most  active  principle  of  the  human 
soul,  and  to  seek  our  own  wealth  or  happiness  is 
to  obey  an  innate  and  irresistible  impulse,  neither 
reason  or  religion  go  to  hinder  or  discourage  a 
just  and  reasonable  attention  to  our  own  temporal 
interests  ;  nor  should  any  of  the  gospel  precepts  be 
explained  in  a  manner  which  is  inconsistent  with 


24 

that  eternal  law,  which  the  finger  of  God  hath 
traced  on  our  hearts.  No.  Attention  to  our  own 
concerns  can  become  culpable  only,  when  they  so 
far  enslave  and  engross  us,  as  to  leave  us  neither 
leisure  or  inclination  to  promote  the  happiness  of 
our  fellow  creatures.  Then  does  self-love  degene- 
rate into  selfishness.  This,  indeed,  is  a  dark  and 
melancholy  transformation  of  our  natural  character, 
and  the  last  term  of  its  abasement.  When  the  light 
of  benevolence  is  entirely  put  out,  man  is  reduced  to 
that  state  of  existence,  which  is  disavowed  by 
nature,  and  abhorred  of  God  !  Let  one  suppose  him, 
I  say,  but  once  ^radically  divested  of  all  generous 
feelings,  and  entirely  involved  in  himself;  it  will  be 
impossible  to  say,  what  deeds  of  shame  and  horror 
he  will  not  readily  commit :  in  the  balance  of  his 
perverted  judgment,  honor,  gratitude,  friendship, 
religion,  yea,  even  natural  affection,  will  all  be  out- 
weighed by  interest.  The  maxim  of  the  Homan 
satirist  will  be  his  rule  of  life,  "  money  at  any  rate." 
If  the  plain  and  beaten  paths  of  the  world,  diligence 
and  frugality,  will  conduct  him  to  that  end,  it  is 
well :  but  if  not,  rather  than  fail  of  his  object,  I  will 
be  bold  to  say,  he  will  plunge,  without  scruple  or 
remorse,  into  the  most  serpentine  labyrinths  of  fraud 
and  iniquity.  'Whilst  his  schemes  are  unaccom- 
plished, fretfulness  and  discontent  will  lower  on  his 
brow ;  when  favourable,  and  even  most  prosperous, 
bis  unslaked  and  unsatisfied  soul  still  thirsts  for 
more.  As  he  is  insensible  to  the  calamities  of  his 
fellow  creatures,  so  the  greatest  torment  he  can  ex- 
perience, is  an  application  to  his  charity  and  com- 


25 

passion.  Should  he  stumble,  like  the  Levite,  on 
some  spectacle  of  woe,  he  will,  like  the  Levite,  has- 
ten to  the  other  side  of  the  way,  resist  the  finest 
movements  of  nature,  and  cling  to  the  demon  of  in- 
humanity, as  the  guardian  angel  of  his  happiness. 
Suppose  him,  however,  under  the  accidental  nece^ 
sity  of  listening  to  the  petition  of  misery ;  he  will 
endeavour  to  beat  down  the  evidence  of  the  case 
by  the  meanest  shifts  and  evasions ;  or  will  cry 
aloud,  as  the  brutal  and  insensible  Nabal  did  to  the 
hungry  soldiers  of  David,  "  Why  should  I  be  such 
"  a  fool,  as  to  give  my  flesh  which  I  have  prepared  for 
"  my  shearers,  to  men  that  I  know  not  from  whence 
"  they  be  ?"  But,  admitting  that  a  remnant  of  shame, 
for  example,  in  the  face  of  a  congregation  like  this, 
may  goad  him  for  once  to  an  act  of  beneficence,  so 
mean  and  inconsiderable,  so  unworthy  of  the  great 
concern  would  it  probably  be,  that  the  idol  of  his 
soul  would  appear  more  distinctly  in  the  very  relief 
he  administers,  than  in  the  barbarous  insensibility 
which  habitually  withholds  it.  Merciful  and  eter- 
nal God  !  what  a  passion !  And  how  much  ought 
the  power  and  fascination  of  that  object  to  be 
dreaded  which  can  turn  the  human  heart  into  such 
a  pathless  and  irreclaimable  desert.  Irreclaimable, 
I  say ;  for  men  inflamed  with  any  other  passion, 
even  voluptuousness,  the  most  impure  and  inveterate, 
are  sometimes  enlightened  and  reformed  by  the  min- 
istry of  religion,  or  the  sober  and  deliberate  judg- 
ment of  manhood  and  experience.  But  who  will 
say  that  such  a  wretch  as  I  have  described,  in  the 
extremity  of  selfishness;  was  ever  corrected  by  any 


26 

ordinary  resource  or  expedient  ?  Who  will  say  that 
he  is  at  any  time  vulnerable  by  reproach,  or,  I  had 
almost  added,  even  convertible  by  grace!  No: 
through  every  stage  and  revolution  of  life  he  remains 
invariably  the  same  :  or  if  any  difference,  it  is  only 
this,  that  as  he  advances  into  the  shade  of  a  long 
evening,  he  clings  closer  and  closer  to  the  object  of 
his  idolatry:  and  while  every  other  passion  lies 
dead  and  blasted  in  his  heart,  his  desire  for  more 
pelf  increases  with  renewed  eagerness,  and  he  holds 
by  a  sinking  world  with  an  agonizing  grasp,  till  he 
drops  into  the  earth  with  the  increased  curses  of 
wretchedness  on  his  head,  without  the  tribute  of  a 
tear  from  child  or  parent,  or  any  inscription  on  his 
memory ;  but  that  he  lived  to  counteract  the  distri- 
butive justice  of  Providence,  and  died  without  hope 
or  title  to  a  blessed  immortality.  "  Seek  not  your 
"  own,  but  every  man  another's  wealth." 

That  there  are  tew  examples  of  such  a  passion  I 
will  readily  admit.  So  abominable  an  infatuation  is 
too  far  out  of  the  line  of  nature  ever  to  become  exten- 
sive in  its  influence.  But  jf  avarice  be  rare,  Mam- 
mon has  stttl  numerous,  very  numerous  adorers  of 
another  description :  and  allow  me  to  ask,  What 
s;reat  difference  does  it  make  to  the  prolific  order  of 
human  misery,  whether  it  be  spurned  by  a  heart  of 
adamant,  or  not  relieved  by  those  who  live  splen- 
didly and  luxuriously?  Here,  my  friends,  is,  1 
fear,  the  true  state  of  the  case.  Can  it  be  denied 
that  a  passion  for  splendid  luxury  begets  an  attach- 
ment to  money,  as  the  means  of  gratifying  that  pas- 


27 

sion?  Who  will  deny  that  it  sometimes  leads  to  the 
most  shameful  degradation  of  the  human  charac- 
ter? Is  it  not  well  known  that  a  man  shall  be  at 
once  both  suple  and  proud,  haughty  and  creeping; 
shall  exact  all  homage  within  his  own  house,  and 
descend  to  every  baseness  abroad  ?  An  imperious 
master  assuming  supreme  majesty  among  his  inferiors 
and  dependents,  a  timid  and  complying  slave  where 
his  fortunes  can  be  advanced  ;  who  will  play  every 
personage,  take  and  lay  down  every  form,  adore 
with  profoundest  abasement  the  patron  he  would 
propitiate,  prevent  his  desires,  sacrifice  to  his  ca- 
prices, constrain  his  own  inclinations,  applaud 
what  he  secretly  despises,  caress  what  he  cordially 
detests,  shut  up  in  his  heart  all  his  pleasures  and 
his  pains  !  in  a  word,  shall  neither  think  or  act,  or 
speak  or  be  silent,  or  love  or  hate,  but  as  he  is 
moved  and  impelled  by  a  vile  consideration  of  per- 
sonal interest  ?  And  what  is  his  object?  merely 
to  procure  the  means  of  a  little  luxury,  to  eat  and 
drink  in  splendour,  to  drown  for  a  moment  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  servility  and  degradation.  Oh,  if 
man  can  so  utterly  renounce  himself,  why  is  it  not 
for  God !  The  greatness  of  the  master  would 
ennoble  the  service ;  but  to  offer  up  so  noble  a  vic- 
tim, as  the  dignity  of  the  human  character,  to  so 
contemptible  a  divinity  as  the  world,  to  make  such 
sacrifices  for  a  fugitive  and  unsubstantial  object, 
more  capable,  on  experiment,  of  irritating  his  de- 
sires, than  of  satisfying  them,  to  be  obliged  to  despise 
himself,  and  not  always  even  to  be  rewarded  for  the 
humiliation!      "No,"    says    the    prophet    Isaias) 


28 

"  there  is  no  judgment  in  his  ways."  Fortune,  if  I 
may  use  the  expression,  places  a  bandage  over  his 
eyes :  he  certainly  must  not  see  the  greatness  of  his 
destination,  and  the  nobility  of  his  origin.  Imagi- 
nation, that  flattering  impostor,  hurries  him  in 
search  of  happiness  from  chimera  to  chimera ;  the 
experience  of  every  instant  should  cure  his  delusion; 
his  delusion  remains  in  spite  of  experience  :  born  to 
the  lofty  ambition  of  an  infinite  good,  his  fears  and 
hopes,  his  views  and  designs,  his  profoundest  medi- 
tations are  still  obstinately  inclosed  within  the  little 
spot  that  intervenes  between  his  cradle  and  the 
grave !  his  days  are  all  past  in  the  midst  of  humili- 
ation and  care,  only  to  die  overwhelmed  with  riches 
and  surrounded  with  splendour !  Truly  hath  the 
prophet  spoken,  "  The  way  of  peace  they  know 
u  not,  and  there  is  no  judgment  in  their  goings ;  they 
"  have  made  themselves  crooked  paths,  whosoever 
"  goeth  therein  shall  not  know  peace." 

But  whatever  may  be  the  folly  and  turpitude  of 
these  sacrifices  that  are  made  for  a  perishable  inter- 
est, my  object  is,  more  properly,  to  evince  the  too 
universal  prevalence  of  selfishness  over  the  feelings 
of  humanity.  Great  God !  were  I  to  draw  a  contrast 
between  the  sums  that  are  daily  lavished  in  frivolous 
and  degrading  gratifications,  and  the  trifle  occasion- 
ally, perhaps  annually,  consecrated  to  the  finest  of 
all  human  affections ;  were  I  to  say  that  the  pas- 
sions and  vices  of  the  day  are  unfathomable  gulphs 
into  which  money  is  poured  without  decency  or  limi- 
tation :  that  the  great  object  of  contention  among 


29 

the  rich  is,  who  shall  manifest  the  happiest  invention 
of  expensive  follies ;  that  play  alone  swallows  up 
more  resources  than  would  educate  and  feed  all  the 
orphans  of  the  nation,  who  could  fairly  or  honestly 
accuse  me  of  misrepresentation?  And  who  that 
studies  and  contemplates  the  deplorable  increase  of 
misery  in  these  times,  but  must  shudder  at  such 
a  crying  misapplication  of  God*s  bounty?  Where, 
let  me  conjure  you  to  reflect,  is  the  gratitude  we 
owe  to  him  ?  What  have  we  that  we  have  not  re- 
ceived? Is  it  to  indulge  this  abominable  prodigality 
that  he  has  mercifully  distinguished  us  from  those 
multitudes  that  Buffer  all  the  excesses  of  human 
misery?  Which  of  us  can  look  round  at  the  specta- 
cles which  every  where  present  themselves,  without 
feeling  the  most  ardent  acknowledgment  to  Heaven 
for  the  blessings  he  enjoys?  There  is  not  probably 
one  man  in  this  vast  congregation,  who  commands 
not  even  some  of  the  superfluities  of  life ;  not  one, 
at  least,  without  a  sufficiency  of  its  common  comforts: 
but  how  many  has  a  gracious  Providence  endowed 
with  large  hereditary  fortunes  ?  how  many  with  the 
most  abundant  mediocrity  ?  how  many  enriched  by 
successful  industry?  how  many  conducted  by  the 
hand  to  lucrative  employments?  how  many,  almost 
fatigued,  if  I  may  say  so,  with  increasing  pros- 
perity ?  and  shall  it  be  possible  that  the  objects  of 
such  tender  and  special  predilection  cau  prove 
eminently  unworthy  of  it  ? 

Nor  is  the  unexampled,   and,   I  may  say,  cruel 
dissipation  of  money,  in  such  times  as  the  present^ 

D 


30 

confined  to  the  upper  orders  of  society  alone.  No  ; 
the  example  has  descended  :  and  there  exists  in  the 
middling  orders  of  life  a  melancholy  proof  how 
ruinous  example  is  when  it  beams  from  an  height. 
The  lustre  of  station  attracting  every  eye  brings  its 
habits  in  contact  with  the  whole  body  of  the  com- 
munity. The  manners  of  the  great  are  a  volume  of 
established  precedents,  which  their  inferiors  consult 
to  fortify  themselves  with  a  case  in  point  for  every 
possible  trespass  against  virtue  and  economy : 
hence  the  industrious  are  led  to  copy  an  expensive 
mode  of  living,  which  ultimately  leads  to  bankruptcy 
and  ruin  ;  and  hence  it  follows  irresistibly,  that,  if 
the  higher  orders  of  the  community  are  desirous  any 
longer  of  being  distinguished  from  those,  whom  they 
are  pleased  to  consider  as  beneath  them,  the  only 
way  I  can  perceive  they  have  left,  is  a  prompt  return 
to  a  system  of  Christian  frugality  and  moderation. 

But,  I  may  be  told,  that,  notwithstanding  the  ex- 
cesses I  complain  of,  mercy  is  often  remembered. 
Yes,  I  confess  it :  and  how  should  it  not  be  remem- 
bered ?  all  human  beings  occasionally  remember 
mercy  ;  the  miser  alone  excepted.  It  is  the  doctrine 
of  all  ages  and  people  :  in  the  darkest  periods  of 
liuman  reason,  when  vice  the  most  atrocious  was 
seated  upon  altars,  and  honoured  by  the  incense  of 
nations,  sensibility  to  distress  remained  a  sacred, 
though  solitary  virtue,  amidst  the  prevailing  corrup- 
tions of  the  world.  In  regions  bound  in  by  eternal 
frost,  uncivilized  and  almost  inaccessible,  where 
element  and  sterility  combine  to  render  subsistence 


31 

precarious,  and  seem  to  shut  op  the  heart,  relief  is 
extended  to  those  whom  age  or  infirmity  renders 
unable  to  toil.  Why  then  should  we  talk  of  occa- 
sionally obeying  a  sentiment,  which  in  the  children 
of  nature  is  a  burning  and  invariable  instinct? 
Were  I  to  tell  the  wildest  barbarian  that  our  bread 
is  often  withheld  from  the  hungry ;  that  some  of  us 
are  clothed  in  soft  raiment,  and  wallow  in  all  the 
enjoyments  of  luxury  and  ease,  while  multitudes  are 
suffered  to  perish  from  the  absolute  want  of  aliment; 
while  poverty  stalks  round  us  ravenous  and  de- 
spairing ;  while  mothers  almost  devour  their  young, 
and  orphans  dispute  offals  with  the  brutes ;  all  bar- 
barous and  uncivilized  as  we  call  him,  I  should  fill 
his  honest  heart  with  astonishment  and  horror  J 
And  yet  we  flatter  ourselves  we  are  merciful !  Oh, 
my  friends,  we  are  too  apt  to  give  ourselves  credit 
for  the  practice  of  a  virtue,  of  which,  in  fact,  we  as 
yet  know  little  but  the  name.  I  am  positive  when 
I  say  this ;  What  pleasure  can  I  have  in  uttering 
any  thing  like  reproach  ?  what  object  in  view,  but 
the  vindication  of  truth,  and  the  good  of  the  cause 
with  which  you  yourselves  have  entrusted  me  ?  I 
am,  in  fact,  but  pleading  your  own  persons  against 
your  own  passions.  Lay  then  your  hands  honestly 
on  your  hearts,  and  decide  the  question  yourselves  ; 
I  desire  no  other  umpire  between  us.  Look  into 
the  divine  volume  of  our  law;  mark  the  rule  of 
mercy  it  lays  down,  and  confess  the  immensity  of 
our  distance  from  it.  What  does  it  declare  us  to 
be,  but  trustees  to  the  estate  ?  Does  it  not  adjudge 
every  shilling  we  can  spare  from   the  reasonable 


32 

support  of  our  stations,  to  the  widow  and  the  orphan, 
or  charge  us  with  their  blood  ?  The  observation, 
you  may  tell  me,  is  trite ;  but  is  it  the  less  awful 
for  being  trite  ?  Is  our  security  the  greater,  because 
every  effort  of  the  human  mind,  and  every  pulse  of 
zeal  have  long  been  exhausted  to  warn  us  of  our 
danger  ?  Is  it  possible  to  believe  in  future  retribu- 
tion, and  not  to  know  some  uneasy  moments  on  this 
head  ?  Is  it  possible  then,  that  rational  and  thinking 
beings  must  not  occasionally  tremble  at  the  uncer- 
tainty of  life,  and  certainty  of  judgment?  How  many 
might  I  mention,  in  the  very  first  class  of  our  com- 
munity, who  have  passed  to  their  account  since  I 
last  met  you  in  the  cause  of  these  children  in  the 
course  of  a  little  year ;  some  of  whom,  I  could  men- 
tion several,  who  heard  me  on  that  day,  and,  for 
aught  I  know,  with  the  same  tranquillity  and  indif- 
ference, or  the  same  assurance  of  many  years,  that 
you  may  now  !  They  are  gone ;  and  whatever  their 
eternal  destiny  may  be,  this  is  certain,  that  it  may 
be  ours  to  consider  the  wealth  of  worlds  as  a  happy 
exchange  for  one  hour  of  that  time  which  is  still 
within  our  power.  Tell  me,  is  there  a  single 
Christian  before  me,  who,  if  the  offer  were  made 
liim  at  this  moment,  would  be  satisfied  to  stake  his 
salvation  on  the  question  of  his  charity  ?  Oh  not  one! 
and  yet  our  consciences  are  at  rest ;  we  flatter 
ourselves  we  are  merciful.  Heavens !  If  there  be 
any  just  ground  for  such  a  thought,  why  has  it 
become  necessary  to  prostitute,  in  some  degree,  the 
most  sacred  of  all  functions  for  the  purpose  of  moving 
and  inspiring  us  to  the  practice  of  this  virtue  ?  Why 


33 

has  the  pulpit  been  obliged  to  descend  to  the  very 
language  of  flattery,  in  order  to  extort  from  your 
vanity  what  it  is  hopeless  of  obtaining  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  religion  ?  Why  is  it  become  necessary  to 
hold  out,  on  almost  every  occasion  of  this  nature,  the 
too  dangerous  doctrine,  "  that  Charity  covereth  a 
multitude  of  sins  f?  and  thus  run  the  hazard  of  mis- 
leading you  on  the  subject  of  your  own  salvation,  in 
order  to  force  you  to  become  the  instrument  of  sal- 
vation to  others  ?  Why  are  we  obliged  to  use  the 
arts  and  colouring  of  profane  eloquence  to  make 
appeals  to  your  passions  ?  To  search  and  probe  the 
great  body  of  human  misery  to  the  bone?  To  bring 
it,  I  may  say,  before  your  hearts,  naked  and  expi- 
ring, quivering  and  disjointed  ?  To  expose  all  its 
miseries  and  horrors  ?  To  mingle  our  own  tears 
with  the  tears  of  the  unhappy  objects  that  invoke 
us?  And  after  all,  why  do  we  often  fail?  Yes, 
most  deplorably  fail?  Why  does  misery  often  perish 
in  the  horrors  of  famine?  or,  What  is  infinitely 
worse,  shoot  up  in  swarms  of  infamy  and  guilt  ? 

"  Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  ano- 
"  ther's  wealth." 

Having  endeavoured  to  the  best  of  my  power,  to 
enforce  this  noble  and  disinterested  maxim  of  the 
apostle,  it  remains  to  consider  the  case  which  calls 
us  to  the  exercise  of  it.  But  if,  in  considering  the 
general  duty  of  charity,  I  have  had  to  struggle  with 
a  subject  not  a  little  exhausted ;  what  field  does 
the  education   of  poor  children  present,  but  one 


54 

equally  barren  ?  The  fact  is,  that  the  many  eminent 
blessings  flowing  to  society  from  attention  to  this 
object,  the  magnitude  and  variety  of  public  evils 
resulting  from  the  neglect  of  it,  the  superior  happi- 
ness, or  superior  misery  of  these  our  fellow  creatures, 
according  as  they  are  early  protected  or  abandoned, 
are  all  themes  so  completely  worn  out,  so  ground 
down,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  by  repeated  attri- 
tion,  that  I  should  consider  it  a  manifest  abuse  of 
your  indulgence,  to  trouble  you  with  any  of  them. 
That  your  indulgence  is  great,  I  have  long  had 
reason  to  declare.  I  ought  therefore  to  presume 
on  that  indulgence  but  as  little  as  possible.  There 
is  a  circumstance  however,  regarding  your  institu- 
tion, which  I  am  called  on  to  mention  ;  and  which 
I  d©  with  the  more  confidence  and  willingness,  as 
notwithstanding  what  my  zeal  for  the  cause  I  have 
in  hand,  may  have  induced  me  to  say  in  the  prece- 
ding part  of  this  discourse,  I  know  you  are  not  un- 
acquainted with  it.  When  first  I  had  the  happiness 
of  appearing  in  behalf  of  these  children,  their  num- 
ber consisted  of  thirty  or  thirty-two,  I  am  not 
positive  which :  I  took  the  liberty  to  remonstrate 
on  the  smallness  of  that  number ;  you  felt  with 
what  justice,  and  increased  it  to  forty ;  there  has 
it  stood :  there,  during  a  long  term  of  eight  years, 
has  it  stood  :  and  some  of  them  such  years  !  Great 
God !  No  not  a  single  child  has  been  added !  As 
we  stand  in  the  presence  of  the  eternal  God,  and 
hope  for  eternal  life,  how  can  this  be  justified?  how 
can  we  reconcile  it  with  the  commonest  feelings  of 
humauity  ?  how  rest  on  our  beds  in  peace,  when  we 


35 

reflect  what  it  is  in  our  power  to  do,  and  what  we 
have  omitted  to  do?  what  inexpressible  happiness 
we  might  diffuse,  what  inexpressible  happiness  we 
have  deliberately  withheld?    Is  it  in  the  want  of 
means  I  am  to  seek  for  an  apology  ?  No  :  the  ques- 
tion is  mockery.     We    are   beyond  exception   the 
wealthiest  parish  in  the  metropolis ;  and  almost  as 
well  able  to  maintain  any  given  number  of  orphans, 
as  we  are  forty.     What  will  you  say  when  I  tell 
you,  that  in  the  parish  of  St.   Werburgh,  a  parish 
exclusively  composed  of  tradesmen  and  shopkeepers, 
there  are  forty  children  dieted,  clothed,  and  educa- 
ted?    Who  can  be   ignorant  of  it?  Who  can  be 
ignorant,  that  while  God  in,  his  inscrutable  judg- 
ment has  spared  you,  he  has  afflicted  thousands  and 
thousands   of  your  brethren.     Who  is  to  learn,  that 
a  long  want  of  employment  among  your  poor,  added 
to   the  numbers  that  have  engaged,  or  shed  their 
blood  in  the  public   service,  have  caused  orphans 
and  destitute  children  to  multiply  in  the  most  horri- 
ble proportion  ?    Who  so  uncandid  as  to  deny  this 
fact?    I  tell  you,  did  my  words  burn  like  coals  of 
fire,  they  could  not  convey  the  greatness  of  the  call 
upon  you  !  No,  never  in  justice,  should  a  minister  of 
mercy  descend  from  this  place,   until  he  discovered 
by  your  countenances  and  emotions,  that  you  felt 
the  necessity,  and  were  determined  to  the  exercise 
of  superior  mercy  at   this    day.     I  say,  though  I 
should  continue  to  speak  until  my  observations  be- 
came incoherent,  and  language  confused,  there  would 
be  still  a  mode  left  of  conveying  the  ardent  wishes 
«f  my  heart;  you   would  understand  at  least  my 


36 

tears ;  they  are  the  true  language'  of  in  treaty ;  and 
as  long  as  there  was  one  pulse  of  feeling  within  me 
for  the  world  of  perishing  infants  without  these 
walls,  these  eyes  should  flow  to  soften  and  conjure 
you !  What  my  friends  !  in  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
tament, we  see  astonishing  influences  even  of  divine 
interposition  in  the  day  of  calamity!  Elijah' on  the 
top  of  a  bleak  and  desert  mountain  ;  without  any 
resource  but  a  firm  confidence  in  his  God.  Was  he 
suffered  to  perish  ?  No :  even  the  most  rapacious 
of  birds  was  charged  with  the  ministry  of  a  protec- 
ting providence,  and  brought  him  his  nutriment  at 
morn  and  eve.  And  how  did  that  vast  multitude 
which  Moses  conducted  into  the  wilderness,  subsist 
during  a  course  of  forty  years?  The  hand  of  divine 
mercy  spread  their  food  upon  the  earth,  and  gave 
them  water  from  the  body  of  a  dry  rock.  Think  of 
the  five  thousand  people  that  followed  and  invoked 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  extremity  of  hunger  and  dis- 
tress :  did  he  refuse  to  succour  them?  did  he  spurn 
them  ?  No :  the  Gospel  tells  us  expressly,  that  his 
heart  bled  for  them.  Where,  says  he,  shall  we  find 
bread  that  they  may  eat?  A  small  quantity  of  provi- 
sions grew,  under  his  miraculous  power,  into  pro- 
fusion. The  multitude  was  filled,  their  gratitude 
was  unbounded ;  and  they  retired  loudly  proclaim- 
ing him  to  be  the  Messiah  that  was  to  come ;  more 
convinced  perhaps  of  this  truth,  from  the  uncommon 
benignity  of  his  character,  than  from  the  prodigy 
Which  they  had  witnessed.  And  look  to  the  first 
ages  of  Christianity,  and  sec  the  faithful  make,  on 
occasions  like  the  present,  what  groat  and  almost 


37 

incredible  sacrifices.  Yes,  in  defect  of  all  other  re- 
sources, we  find  them  selling  their  very  persons, 
surrendering  their  very  liberty  into  the  hands  of 
barbarians  ;  and  leaving  the  price  of  this  first  of  hu- 
man blessings  behind  them,  for  the  relief  of  their 
famishing  brethren.  What  a  prodigy  of  humanity? 
Great  God !  And  shall  we,  whom  he  has  fondly 
excepted  from  a  too  general  visitation,  deliberately 
refuse  to  vindicate  his  providence?  Shall  we  turn 
aside  from  such  depths  and  abundance  of  human 
misery,  as  perhaps  never  before  occurred  in  the  his- 
tory of  any  people.  O  !  it  is  not  by  a  delegated 
voice  that  misery  should  implore  ;  it  should  plead 
for  itself;  you  should  see  it  with  your  own  eyes,  hear 
it  with  your  own  ears ;  one  beseeching  glance  from 
a  famishing  child,  one  sigh  from  the  breaking  heart 
of  its  parent,  would  go  deeper  into  yours,  would  do 
more  with  you  in  a  moment,  than  my  words,  were 
I  speaking  to  you  for  ever !  What  power  have  I  to 
affect  you?  None;  comparatively  at  least,  none. 
When  my  mind  represents  you  shocked  and  abashed 
at  scenes  that  would  be  new  to  you,  comparing  them 
with  your  own  situation,  dreading,  at  every  instant, 
some  more  horrible  discovery,  the  God  of  mercy, 
spurring  you  to  minute  investigation,  your  nature 
recoiling  at  every  issue  of  it:  in  fine,  putting  this 
solemn  question  to  your  souls,  is  it  possible  that  the 
deplorable  beings  we  now  see  before  us,  separated 
from  the  living  and  the  dead,  holding  to  the  world 
only  by  a  sense  of  their  sufferings,  can  be  creatures 
of  the  same  God  with  ourselves,  members  of  the 
same  society,  our  brethren  in  Christ  Jesus?  Oh  then 

E 


38 

it  is  that  humanity  would  triumph,  then  would  the 
gates  of  your  institution  fly  open  to  remedy  the  una- 
voidable consequences  to  the  living,  and  quiet  the 
shades  of  the  dead.  Then  would  the  mourning 
widow  forget  the  bloody  day  that  deprived  her  babes 
of  a  father  and  protector ;  since  they  had  found  fa- 
thers and  protectors  in  you.  I  tell  you  that  the 
utmost  effort  of  the  ministry  can  do  comparatively 
nothing.  To  be  roused  to  the  height  of  mercy  you 
should  have  personal  experience  of  what  passes 
around  you ;  you  will  then  carry  the  impression  to 
your  graves.  Sermons  and  preachers  are  rapidly 
forgotten.  One  single  morning  devoted  to  explore 
the  recesses  of  misery  in  this  metropolis  would 
preach  to  you  through  life  ;  would  stamp  you  merci- 
ful for  ever.  While  I  press  you  to  an  increase  of 
your  institution,  full  well  do  you  know  the  necessity 
of  it.  But  alas  !  I  want  the  power  of  determining 
you,  of  melting  you  down  to  the  extent  of  my  wishes. 
God  has  not  given  it  to  me ;  if  he  had,  be  assured  I 
would  use  it:  I  would  encircle  you  with  my  little 
clients,  hang  them  on  your  garments,  teach  their 
fatherless  arms  to  entwine  about  your  knees,  their 
innocent  eyes  to  fasten  upon  yours,  their  untainted 
lips  to  cry  Mercy,  for  we  perish  !  Do  you  think  you 
could  resist?  1  would  bid  you  observe  the  force 
of  nature  in  the  breast  of  a  parent.  Mothers  crying 
to  you  with  extended  arms  to  save  their  children. 
No,  think  not  of  us,  would  they  say,  We  are  satis- 
fied to  softer.  Let  us  expire,  if  you  will,  we  shall 
expire  in  peace,  but  save,  O  save  our  children ! 
Many  of  you  are  parents  yourselves.     There  would 


39 

you  see  all  personal  considerations  swallowed  up 
in  the  immensity  of  parental  feeling.  Peace  and 
serenity  spread  over  the  face  of  woe.  Even  death 
itself  losing  its  sting,  at  the  prospect  of  life  and  hap- 
piness being  ensured  to  these  objects  which  nature 
has  endeared  to  us  above  our  own  existence.  Do 
you  think  you  could  resist  the  luxury  which  such  a 
moment  held  out  to  you?  Oh,  how  truly  has  it 
been  said,  that  far  better  is  it  for  man  to  go  into  the 
house  of  mourning  than  into  the  house  of  joy. 
Think  not  that  the  earnestness  with  which  I  address 
you  is  mere  trick  and  artifice.  No,  no !  no  such 
thing.  No,  believe  me,  were  I  imploring  your 
charity  for  the  mother  that  bore  me,  my  heart  and 
soul  could  not  be  more  in  that  cause  than  it  is  in 
this.  Suspect  me  not  then  of  using  any  efforts,  but 
such  as  are,  unhappily,  suggested  and  called  for  by 
the  real  complexion  of  the  case.  But  suppose  I  did, 
would  it  not  be  allowable  ?  Is  there  any  fear  that 
charity  may  rise  above  the  level  of  necessity  ?  Did 
it  ever  approach  it,  even  in  times  of  comparative 
blessedness  to  the  present  ?  Was  there  ever  a  day 
in  the  memory  of  any  man  who  hears  me  when 
there  was  not  room  for  more  mercy  ?  What  greater 
result  can  my  most  sanguine  expectations  present  at 
the  conclusion  of  this  hour,  than  your  adoption  of 
ten  or  twenty  additional  orphans  at  most  out  of  a 
swarm?  And  give  me  leave  to  ask,  whom  should  the 
ministry  press  at  this  awful  day,  and  in  this  cause, 
if  not  you  ?  Where  should  their  most  zealous  and 
strenuous  efforts  be  used  to  obviate  the  uncommon 
overflow  of  wretched   children  if  not  among  the 


40 

Hch?     Were  I  addressing  an  assembly  of  inferior 
circumstances  and  condition,  it  would  be  absurd  as 
well  as  fruitless  to  talk  on  this  subject.     I  might 
indeed  stir  up  their  feeling  and  draw  the  tear  from 
their  eye — but  tears  are  not  charity:  misery  requires 
relief  as  well  as  pity.     The  natural  protectors  of 
many  other  institutions  are  not  equal  to  the  support 
of  the  few    children  they  contain ;    but    you,   my 
friends,  do  possess  the  means  of  great  and  majestic 
efforts  towards  the  decrease  of  a  public  calamity, 
and  with   these  means  the  most  impressible  hearts. 
You  are  therefore  the  fairest  objects  to  assail,  as  you 
also  are   the  most   likely  to  be  subdued.     Can  I 
forget  that  during  the  rigour  of  last  winter,  a  collec- 
tion for  the  relief  of  your  poor  made  from  door  to 
door,  where  it  was  easy,  you  know,  to  avoid  the 
question,  even  without  the  necessity  of  a  personal  ap- 
pearance, produced,  in  the  short  space  of  three  days, 
the  sum  of  seven  hundred  pounds  ;  an  uncommon  ex- 
ertion of  charity,  I  will  say,  considering  that  it  took 
place  immediately  after  the  contribution  made  for  the 
support  of  these  infants.  Not  a  single  refusal,  I  un- 
derstand, did  the  gentlemen  who  collected  receive  in 
the  whole  course  of  their  circuit.     On  the  contrary, 
every  where  abundance,  and  in  many  instances  pro- 
fusion.    No  pressing  intreaty  was  used  with  you; 
no  obstinate  or  (as  I  fear  you  now  find  it)  presuming 
length  of  solicitation.    The  claims  of  your  petitioners  ' 
Were  writ! en  on   the  face  of  nature,   on  the   hoary 
mantle  of  the  earth,  and  conveyed  in  the  bitterness 
ef  the  breeze.     In  looking  through  your  casements 
you  naturally  reflected  on  the  special  comforts  and 


41 

blessings  you  enjoyed,  and  raised  your  eyes  to 
Heaven  in  fervent  thanksgiving,  while  your  imagina- 
tions tenderly  depicted  the  horrible  reverse  of  cold, 
nakedness,  and  famine.  The  case  was  clear,  and 
you  were  men.  The  delegates  of  misery  had  but  to 
come,  and  see,  and  conquer.  You  gave,  and  gave 
cheerfully,  and  gave  greatly.  And  is  it  from  such 
hearts  1  can  dread  a  repulse  on  this  occasion?  Is  it 
only  in  the  temple  of  the  eternal  God,  where  he 
himself  conjures  you  through  the  lips  of  his  minister, 
that  I  can  suppose  you  to  exist  with  impoverished 
feelings  and  inferior  souls  ?  Here,  when  the  question 
is  not  to  bestow  a  transitory  relief,  but  to  perform  an 
act  of  permanent  and  inconceivable  mercy.  In  that 
word,  perhaps,  lies  the  difficulty — permanent  mercy! 
You  look  to  future  years.  You  dread,  perhaps,  a 
permanent  incumbrance.  Your  institution  once  in- 
creased can  never  be  diminished  !  Your  hearts  are 
with  me,  I  know,  as  is  your  most  intimate  conviction 
that  the  measure  is  loudly  called  for :  but  the 
wretched  prudence  of  the  world  whispers  you  to 
beware  of  entailing  on  yourselves  an  additional  and 
immutable  burthen  !  Spurn  the  inglorious  thought — 
Let  glorious  Humanity  triumph  over  the  world  in 
your  hearts.  Familiarity  will  render  light  an  addi- 
tional burden  which  you  know  and  feel  to  be  ne- 
cessary. 


SERMON  II. 

[For  the  Meath  Hospital.] 

St.  Luke,  c.  xvi.  v.  25. 

u  Son,  remember  that  thou  in  thy  life  time  receivedst 
"thy  good  things,  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things  ; 
"  but  now  he  is  comforted,  and  thou  art  tormen- 
« ted" 

THESE  words,  my  brethren,  form  part  of  the 
well  known  parable,  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  ; 
which  appears  to  me,  when  considered  in  its  main 
object,  to  be  one  of  the  most  awful  lessons  of  instruc- 
tion, contained  in  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  perhaps 
the  most  necessary  at  this  day  to  press  on  the  serious 
reflection  of  Christians.  For  this  reason,  that  the 
dreadful  epitaph  which  an  immortal  hand  has  traced 
on  the  tomb  of  that  unfortunate  victim,  goes  unequiv- 
ocally to  denounce  a  complexion  of  life  and  manners 
almost  generally  found  compatible  with  perfect  tran- 
quillity of  conscience.  It  is  not  the  rich  alone  that 
are  concerned  in  this  case,  but  all  those  who  fall 
into  the  desperate  error  of  imagining  that  the  way  of 


44 

salvation  may  be  strewed  with  flowers,  and  an  im- 
mortal prize  aspired  to  and  obtained,  without  tread- 
ing in  the  steps  of  a  crucified  leader :  or  in  other 
words  without  a  course  of  active  and  laborious  vir- 
tue. To  this  strange  and  (indefinable  misconception 
of  the  religion  of  Christ,  the  case  before  us  gives  a 
melancholy  negative.  For  it  does  not  present  us 
with  the  issue  of  a  life  of  iniquity,  but  with  the  fate 
of  a  man,  whose  only  offence  was  that  of  building 
his  tabernacle  here ;  that  of  being  satisfied  with  the 
felicity  he  enjoyed  on  this  earth  ;  and  in  the  bosom 
of  sensuality  and  pleasure,  basely  forgetting  that  he 
was  born  for  a  nobler  purpose.  This  was  the  sole 
eause  of  his  reprobation  ;  the  luxurious  gratification 
in  which  he  was  sunk,  excluded  equally  from  his 
life,  the  violence  of  great  passions,  and  the  efforts  of 
virtue.  It  was  exactly  that  state  which  may  be 
compared  to  the  deceitful  security  of  a  calm  on  the 
bosom  of  the  ocean,  while  the  insensible  progress  of 
a  current  draws  the  vessel  to  the  gulph.  Not  a 
single  action  which  the  generality  of  the  world 
would  call  distantly  reprehensible,  does  the  Gospel 
record  of  him,  save  that  in  the  distraction  of  excessive 
prosperity,  he  paused  not  to  contemplate  and  relieve 
the  miserable  object  that  lay  in  his  path  ;  for  the 
rest,  all  that  we  can  collect  from  his  history  is,  that 
he  was  rich,  and  betrayed  propensities  contemptible 
but  not  depraved :  and  yet,  notwithstanding  away 
of  life  so  perfectly  free  from  the  shadow  of  any 
thing  heinous,  we  find  him  doomed  to  bear  everlas- 
ting evidence  of  this  truth,  that  it  is  but  too  possible 
to  be  at  once  completely  justified  by  the  maxims  of 


45 

the  world,  and  wofully  condemned  by  the  rules  of 
religion.  "  And  the  rich  man  also  died,  and  in  hell 
'•he  lifted  up  his  eyes." 

How  comes  it,  my  brethren,  that  even  the  most 
zealous  efforts  of  the  ministry  are  unequal  to  produce 
profound  impressions  on  the  subject  of  such  a  des- 
tiny ?  By  some  unaccountable  infatuation,  too  many 
Christians  either  affect  to  disbelieve  this  point  of  doc- 
trine altogether,  or  confess  it  but  languidly.  Like 
the  man  who  whistles  as  he  traverses,  at  the  mid- 
night hour,  the  gloomy  residence  of  the  dead,  in 
order  to  support  his  sinking  courage  against  the 
terror  of  the  scene,  we  labour,  by  wretched  and  un- 
tenable reasoning,  to  bear  down  in  our  hearts  the 
rising  apprehension  of  a  terrible  futurity.  The  fact 
is,  there  is  nothing  so  evident,  that  man  will  not 
sport  with  and  controvert,  when  he  sees  only  through 
the  glass  of  his  passions.  We  have  a  striking  exam- 
ple of  this  in  the  obstinate  perversity  of  the  Phari- 
sees ;  who,  though  intimately  persuaded  of  the  di- 
vinity of  our  Lord's  mission,  so  clearly  foretold  in 
the  scriptures,  yet  attempted  to  puzzle  and  betray 
him  by  captious  questions  on  religion  and  policy. 
They  were  answered ;  they  scrutinized  his  morals ; 
they  found  them  Purity  itself;  they  attended  to  every 
word  of  his  language,  its  wisdom  and  elevation  as- 
tonished. They  asked  for  miracles ;  the  lame 
walked,  the  blind  saw,  the  graves  gave  up  their 
dead.  Seemingly  baffled  at  all  points,  passion  and 
self-interest  had  still  a  resource.  They  discovered, 
that  this  wonder-working   man   was  assisted  by 

F 


46 

Beelzebub  himself.  This  is  the  exact  image  of 
those  Christians,  whose  hearts  are  too  corrupt,  and 
passions  too  much  engaged  with  the  present  scene, 
honestly  to  admit,  or  even  bear  the  thought  of  a 
principle  in  religion  that  inexorably  devotes  them. 
Miserable  weakness  !  to  act  a  part  in  one  season  of 
life,  and  put  it  down  at  another:  to  pass  youth  in 
the  fashionable  parade  of  despising  vulgar  preju- 
dice, often  in  the  bold  and  intrepid  language  of  in- 
credulity ;  and  old  age  in  the  tremblings  of  victo- 
rious faith.  What  does  it  avail  to  defy  the  sacred 
truths  of  religion  for  a  few  years,  when  our  last  mo- 
ments invariably  avenge  them?  No,  my  brethren, 
the  eye  of  the  ministry  I  exercise  is  not  so  organized, 
as  to  see  nothing  but  defects.  It  is  the  pride  and  con- 
solation  of  our  lives,  to  acknowledge  and  do  justice, 
where  we  have  room,  to  the  virtue  and  piety  of  those 
whom  we  are  destined  to  instruct ;  but  never  can  it 
be  allowable  to  cover  the  gulph  to  which  mistaken 
notions  of  religion  lead,  with  flowery  and  inviting 
verdure  that  is  to  entertain  the  false  security  of  our 
fellow  Christians  by  the  concealment  or  softening  of 
necessary  truth.  We  have  no  authority  over  it; 
we  owe  you,  according  to  the  expression  of  St. 
James  in  the  word  which  we  announce  " an  houest 
"  and  faithful  glass  ;"  we  are  to  view  witli  horror 
that  temporal  gospel,  if  I  may  so  speak,  that  is  in- 
terpreted by  the  passions,  and  accommodated  to  the 
delicacy  and  manners  of  Semichristians.  We  arc 
to  know  and  preach  only  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ ! 
the  gospel  of  justice,  as  well  as  of  mercy,  whose  im- 
mutability represents  the  essence  of  that  being  from 


47 

whose  bosom  it  has  emanated.  This  is  our  duty. 
It  is,  alas  !  but  too  necessary  there  should  be  a  tri- 
bunal firm  and  immutable,  to  unveil  and  blast  the 
designs  and  artifices  of  our  great  and  powerful  enemy. 
Let  me  then  enquire,  with  that  liberty  which  the 
ministry  allows,  and  that  ardent  anxiety,  which  it  is 
right  to  inspire  for  the  spiritual  interest  of  our  fellow 
Christians,  what  ground  of  confidence  there  can  be 
under  a  course  of  life,  of  which  we  have  before  us 
this  day  the  example  and  the  fate  ?  I  would  appeal 
to  your  own  hearts,  whether  I  should  be  justified  ia 
saying,  that  the  notoriously  prevailing  rage  of  present 
Christians,  for  pleasure  and  dissipation,  for  every 
idle  and  luxurious  pursuit,  in  the  face  of  a  system, 
whose  very  soul  is  spirituality,  and  every  line  a  pre- 
cept of  rigorous  self-denial,  ought  not  to  produce 
serious  alarm  ?  "  Is  it  not  written,  that  we  are  pre- 
u  destinate  only  as  we  conform  to  the  image  of  Jesus 
"  Christ."  Did  he  content  himself  with  leading  a 
life  devoid  of  guilt?  with  rendering  unto  Caesar 
what  belonged  to  Caesar?  and  defying  the  eagle 
eye  of  his  enemies  on  the  score  of  his  morals  ?  did 
he  recommend  in  his  instructions,  and  display  in  his 
example,  those  qualities  only  which  the  world  ad- 
mires, untainted  honour,  scrupulous  integrity,  disin- 
tererested  generosity,  fidelity  in  promise,  humanity 
to  the  poor?  was  this  the  exclusive  perfection  to 
which  he  called  us  ?  He,  whose  practice  and  doc- 
trine proclaim,  by  a  thousand  organs,  that  the  edi- 
fice of  Christian  salvation  can  only  be  raised  on  the 
wreck  of  crucified  nature  ;  he  who  declared  "  That 
u  whosoever  bearetb  not  his  cross,  and  cometh  after 


48 

"hiin,  cannot  be  his  disciple;  that  the  kingdom  of 
66  Heaven  suffereth  violence,  that  no  man  can  serve 
"  God  and  the  world,  that  those  who  are  full  and 
u  laugh  now,  shall  one  day  mourn  and  weep,  that 
"  the  world  shall  rejoice,  but  that  his  disciples  shall 
"  be  sorrowful,  and  their  sorrow  turned  into  joy ;" — 
in  a  word,  he  who  from  the  first  moment  of  his  mor- 
tal life  to  the  final  consummation  of  his  sufferings, 
was  eminently  every  thing  that  he  taught ; — this  is 
our  model,  without  conformity  to  which,  to  the  ut- 
most of  our  strength,  we  are  lost,  though  we  should 
be  otherwise  as  immaculate  as  angels.  For  it  is  not 
the  exemption  from  guilt,  nor  even  a  life  the  most 
irreproachable  in  the  eyes  of  men,  joined  to  the 
possession  of  a  thousand  moral  virtues,  that  consti- 
tutes the  Christian ;  but  the  study  of  Jesus  Chri  st, 
and  the  spirit  as  well  as  the  letter  of  his  gospel 
copied  into  our  practice,  and  idolized  in  our  hearts. 
But  how  can  it  be  said  that  this  truth  is  generally 
felt  and  acknowledged  ?  If  the  Christian  be  bound 
to  continual  warfare  with  all  his  corrupt  affections, 
and  Christians  will  yet  nourish  those  domestic  ene- 
mies ;  if  the  Christian  be  not  of  this  world,  and 
Christians  will  yet  deem  it  compatible  with  their 
hopes  to  be  the  slaves  and  apologists  of  its  maxims 
and  pursuits ;  if  the  Christian,  in  the  midst  of  labo- 
rious efforts  to  work  out  his  own  salvation,  and  pro- 
mote  that  of  others,  yet  trembles  at  the  sentence  that 
may  await  him ;  and  Christians  in  the  whirl  of  va- 
nity and  folly,  without  thought  of  that  evangelical 
perfection  to  which  they  should  aspire,  yet  live  in 
profound  peace  with  themselves:  if  the  Christian 


49 

be  a  traveller,  who  sighs  at  every  step  for  the  view 
of  his  everlasting  country,  and  Christians  would  yet 
establish  in  this  valley  of  tears  their  everlasting 
abode ;  if  every  hour  aud  moment  of  the  Christian's 
life  be  full  before  God,  and  Christians  have  little  to 
present  in  their  lives  but  a  miserable  void  ;  if  the 
Christian  receives  afflictions  as  peculiar  mercies,  and 
considers  the  highest  degree  of  human  prosperity  as 
no  more  than  the  summit  of  a  precipice,  and  yet 
Christians  recoil  from  the  one,  and  attach  every 
charm  to  the  other ;  in  a  word,  if  the  Christian  be 
all  spiritual,  and  we,  my  brethren,  all  material  and 
earthly ;  take  but  one  example,  and  you  will  have 
a  representation,  imperfect,  but  not  exaggerated,  of 
that  system  of  levity  and  pleasure  which  bids  fair  to 
prescribe  against  the  Gospel.  Suppose  a  woman, 
at  the  opening  of  the  week,  taking  a  delightful  re- 
view of  her  various  engagements  to  misemploy  it, 
passing  each  morniug,  sometimes  in  the  bosom  of 
vacancy  at  home,  and  in  an  attentive  enumeration 
of  the  dull  and  heavy  hours  that  delay  the  frivolous 
scene  of  her  passion,  but  often  in  sauntering  or  roll- 
ing through  the  streets,  without  an  object  but  to 
catch  the  attention  of  the  equally  idle  of  the  other 
sex,  or  excite  the  envy  of  her  own ;  afterwards  sal- 
lying forth  to  the  revel,  or  empty  pageantry  of  the 
night,  at  a  time  when  reason  and  constitution  would, 
in  obedience  to  the  wants  of  nature,  demand  retire- 
ment and  repose ;  and  often  pushing  this  furious 
avidity  for  dissipation  into  the  blushing  beams  of 
a  returning  sun ;  miserable  should  chance  or  indis- 
position prevent  her,  in  a  single  instance,  from  being 


50 

surrounded,  abroad  or  at  home,  by  a  circle  of  this 
spledid  misery ;  a  stranger  in  her  family,  her  wretch- 
ed children,  if  children  she  has  any,  committed  to 
the  mercy,  the  inattention,  the  example  of  menials, 
without  the  benefit  of  a  mothers  tenderness,  in- 
struction and  care ;  and  this  blessed  week,  which  is 
the  history  of  every  other,  only  redeemed  by  occa- 
sionally offering  to  God  the  wanderings  of  a  mind 
stupified  and  corrupted  by  the  never-ending  worship 
of  the  world  !  Is  this  Christianity,  or  is  it  an  exag- 
gerated picture  of  the  manners  that  reign  ?  I  appeal 
to  your  own  souls.  What  do  we  behold  from  the 
commencement  of  one  season  of  the  year  to  the  close 
of  it,  but  multitudinous  counterparts  of  such  a  life  ? 
The  young  and  the  old,  the  matron  and  the  girl,  the 
man  and  the  boy,  confounded  in  the  same  chace  of 
pleasure,  in  all  its  despicable  varieties  and  ruinous 
extravagance?  But  what  were  I  to  speak  of  the 
prevailing  indecency,  the  growing  nakedness  of  fe- 
male attire?  Is  it  possible  for  the  ministry  to  be 
silent,  when  purity  of  Ueart  (which  I  am  willing  to 
suppose)  is  made  consistent  with  the  very  flag  and 
dress  of  an  Impure?  God  forbid  I  should  doubt  that 
such  infinitely  unchristian  departure  from  the  strict- 
ness of  our  rule  did  not  proceed  rather  from  the  ob- 
livion or  misconception,  than  the  secret  or  open 
contempt  of  it.  And  yet  they  who  judge  with  more 
severity  might  say,  and  say  with  appearance  of  jus- 
tice, that  though  vice  be  recoiled  from  in  practice,  out- 
ward circumstances,  when  glaring,  may  afford  more 
than  a  presumption,  that  it  has  at  least  a  place  in 
the  will;   and  weak  and  imperceptible,  alas,   we 


51 

know,  is  the  line  of  defence  between  strength  of  in- 
clination, and  the  misfortune  of  guilt ! 

Suffer  the  word  of  exhortation,  my  friends.  In 
whatever  we  say,  we  mean  no  personal  or  malignant 
application.  Our  shafts  are  cast  at  random,  we  are 
ignorant  where  they  may  wound.  Our  representa- 
tions are  general ;  it  is  yourselves,  my  brethren, 
that  either  individually  feel,  or  transfer  the  likeness 
where  your  experience  sees  it  to  be  clear.  Suffer 
the  word  of  exhortation.  Let  this  unhappy  offspring 
of  ever-innovating  fashion,  for  no  more  I  am  per- 
suaded it  is,  let  it  no  longer  feast  the  oyes  of  the 
libertine,  and  afford  matter  of  reproach  to  his  tongue. 
Paradoxical  as  this  double  effect  may  appear,  it  is 
founded  in  positive  experience.  Much  do  women 
deceive  themselves,  if  they  imagine,  that  their  de- 
viations from  strict  modesty  and  reserve  can  be 
arraigned  only  from  the  pulpit  of  God,  or  by  the 
voice  of  their  austerer  fellow  Christians.  The  very 
men  who  surround  them  in  the  assemblies  of  vanity, 
and  pour  into  their  ears  the  ill-fascinating  incense  of 
flattery,  are  often,  when  in  the  society  of  each  other, 
their  cruellest  censors  :  and  will  remember  and 
name  with  bitter  accuracy,  every  striking  example 
of  the  error  I  deplore ;  and  with  refined  malignity 
make  appearance  a  pretext  for  the  abominable  liber- 
ty of  sporting  with  unsullied  reputations.  This  is 
the  fate  of  woman  !  Her  worst  enemies  are  often 
they  whom  she  most  studies  to  please ;  as  her  best 
friends  are  certainly  they  who  watch  over  her  present 
and  eternal  interests ;  and  at  the  hazard  of  displeas- 


52 

ing,  fear  not  to  call  her  to  the  only  true  glory  of  her 
character.  In  the  name  of  a  pure  religion,  and  its 
eternal  Author,  I  call  upon  parents  neither  to  coun- 
tenance this  evil  by  their  example ;  or,  contrary  to 
the  solemn  reproach  of  conscience,  criminally  con- 
nive at  it  in  their  children.  They  cannot  be  igno- 
rant, that  every  vice  is  completed,  by  not  providing 
against  its  insensible  advance  at  first.  They  cannot 
be  ignorant,  that  dreadful  calamity  to  female  inno- 
cence has  often  ensued,  not  because  it  is  too  weak 
to  resist  the  decided  tempter ;  but  because  it  per- 
ceived not  the  gradations  that  beguiled  it  to  the  pre- 
cipice. They  cannot  be  ignorant  of  the  solemn 
account  they  have  to  render.  They  cannot  be  ig- 
norant, that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  parent  of  their  chil- 
dren, much  more  than  themselves ;  that  he  has 
redeemed  them  with  his  blood  ;  marked  them  in  the 
cradle  with  a  seal  of  the  new  covenant,  and  entrusted 
them  to  their  vigilance  and  protection ;  as  the 
daughter  of  Pharaoh  did  the  child  she  had  saved,  to 
the  mother  of  Moses  ;  "  Take  and  nurse  this  child 
"  for  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages."  He  will 
demand  those  precious  deposits  ;  and  depend  upon 
it,  if  there  be  an  indisputable  truth  under  Heaven, 
it  is  this,  that  if  our  Children  are  made  victims  to  a 
divinity  to  whom  we  sacrifice  their  salvation  ;  though 
we  otherwise  appear  before  God  with  all  accumulated 
virtues,  our  wages  will  be  blood  for  blood,  eternity 
for  eternity !  Of  this  enough. 

But  it  may  be  said,  is  the  Gospel  then  that  austere 
and  gloomy  system,  that  commands  us  to  renounce 


53 

enjoyments  naturally  arising  from  social  intercourse  ? 
No,  my  brethren,  religion,  being  founded  on  benevo- 
lence, cannot  be  the  enemy  to  any  gratification  that 
innocently  contributes  to  the  happiness  of  life.  St. 
Paul  expressly  directs  Christians,  to  rejoice  with 
those  that  rejoice,  as  well  as  weep  with  them  that 
weep  ;  and  Jesus  Christ  himself  we  know  was  seated 
at  the  table  of  the  Pharisee,  and  sanctified  by  his 
presence  the  marriage  feast  of  Cana.  But  we  are 
not  to  confound  what  our  rule  clearly  admits,  with 
what  the  temper  of  the  world  would  suppose  it  to 
admit.  Though  it  may  in  a  degree  lead  to  repeti- 
tion, I  will  submit  the  difference  in  a  word.  Never 
to  appear  in  society  but  with  a  view  to  improvement 
and  edification  :  never  to  keep  up  a  single  acquaint- 
ance the  most  distantly  dangerous  to  our  spiritual 
intercourse;  never  to  cultivate  friends,  or  even 
relatives  that  are  not  religious  and  virtuous ;  never 
to  omit  rendering,  in  the  particular  duties  of  our 
station,  the  means  of  salvation  to  ourselves  and 
others.  This  is  the  Gospel, — To  neglect  occupa- 
tions the  most  sacred  and  important ;  to  run  indis- 
creetly, and  without  choice,  into  every  circle  that 
W7ill  admit  us;  to  consume  our  precious  time  in  idle 
visits  and  ceremonials ;  to  live  only  in  the  confusion 
of  night  and  day,  amidst  laborious  amusements,  that 
always  end  in  inevitable  disgust,  that  capital  enemy, 
which  we  are  eternally  banishing,  and  eternally 
calling  up  ;  this  is  the  World.  Inviolably  to  respect 
our  superfluities  as  the  patrimony  of  the  poor ;  to  be 
distinguished  in  high  station,  neither  by  too  much 
magnificence  or  too  much  simplicity,  to  regulate  our 

G 


54 

train  and  expense  invariably  below  our  rank  and 
revenues  :  to  think  more  of  decency  than  of  lustre 
and  show ;  this  is  the  Gospel.  To  be  swayed  in 
in  those  things,  only  by  established  fashion,  however 
wild,  extravagant  and  contemptible ;  to  labour  who 
shall  outdo  the  other  in  excessive  and  luxurious  enter- 
tainments ;  to  starve  a  family  for  a  month  in  order 
to  glitter  for  a  night ;  to  exhibit  with  study  and 
affectation,  brilliant,  and  expensive  baubles  on  the 
person,  and  the  person  without  attire ;  and  unthink- 
ingly sacrifice  to  all  vanity,  what  our  hearts  incline 
us  to  devote  to  a  more  sacred  purpose ;  this  is  the 
World.  To  take  part  in  conversations  only  in 
which  modesty  has  never  to  blush,  in  which  reason 
lias  every  thing  to  gain,  and  the  sacred  cause  of  re- 
ligion and  morality  finds  edification  and  support  £ 
this  is  the  Gospel.  To  relish  the  unintellible  jargon* 
of  mixed  and  tumultuous  assemblies ;  to  endeavour 
in  all  conversations,  rather  to  shine  than  to  instruct ; 
to  high  season  it  with  the  salt  of  sarcasm,  or  slander; 
delicately  and  artificially  to  envelope  the  poison  of 
impurity  and  corruption  ;  to  be  silent  from  self-inter- 
est or  complaisance,  when  religion  is  reviled  by  the 
impious  and  libertine ;  perhaps,  infamously  join  in 
the  abuse  of  what  we  inwardly  revere ;  this  is  the 
World.  Never  to  engage  in  play,  but  on  a  scale  the 
most  moderate,  or  consider  that,  or  any  other  allow- 
able relaxation,  but  as  the  means  of  returning  with 
recruited  spirits  to  the  performance  of  every  social* 
public,  and  domestic  duty ;  this  is  the  Gospel.  To 
render  play  an  occupation  and  a  traffic ;  a  blind 
ungovernable  passion,  that  lays  us  open  to  the  arts 


55 

and  conspiracies  of  the  more  trained  in  the  profession  j 
that  fills  the  soul  with  base  and  malignant  affections, 
the  feelings  of  avarice,  the  bitterness  of  envy ;  the 
rage  that  boils  at  loss  and  disappointment ;  nightly 
to  grope  for  an  object  that  engrosses  every  reflection 
of  the  mind,  and  every  desire  of  the  heart;  that 
every  instant,  under  the  capricious  empire  of  chance, 
produces  miserable  shiftings  of  ecstacy  and  pain, 
and,  under  the  law  of  polite  manners,  commands  the 
torment  of  outward  ease,  and  countenance  serene, 
when  the  storm  is  most  violent  and  afflicting  within ; 
this  is  the  World.  This  is  one  of  those  precious 
pursuits  to  which  it  eagerly  recurs  for  enjoyment, 
and  would  reconcile  with  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  pursue  the  contrast  any  further. 

Thank  God  we  have  many  Christians  in  the  midst 
of  us,  whose  practice  fully  vindicates  and  gloriously 
reflects  the  rule  as  I  have  laid  it  down.  We  have 
them  in  the  highest  departments  of  life :  we  have 
them  in  the  humble  bosom  of  mediocrity.  The  ex- 
ample they  display,  has  been  the  example  of  true 
Christians  in  all  times  and  ages,  all  of  whom,  whe- 
ther in  elevation  or  obscurity,  in  the  cares  and  dis- 
traction of  public,  or  the  leisure  and  repose  of  a 
private  station,  have  worked  out  their  salvation,  by 
bearing  their  cross,  and  turning  aside  from  the  Baby- 
lon of  worldly  pleasure ;  and  persuaded  I  am,  that 
whatever  our  passions  may  suggest,  and  force  us  to 
pursue,  our  convictions  are  all,  with  the  propriety 
and  restraint  of  the  rule.  What  indulgence,  then, 
my  brethren,  can  we  look  for,  from  the  Sovereign 


56 

and  terrible  Searcher  of  hearts,  when  the  moment  we 
breathe  from  unnatural  repletion,  that  is  the  moment 
we  are  allowed  to  think,  we  surely  condemn  our- 
selves. Thus,  my  brethren,  shall  we  one  day  be 
judged.  Our  convictions,  our  remorse,  will  be  oppo- 
sed to  our  actions ;  our  language  to  our  secret  senti- 
ments ;  our  secret  sentiments  to  our  public  practice; 
ourselves  to  ourselves;  and  our  souls  before  the 
tribunal  of  God,  be  at  once  the  criminal  and  the 
witness  against  us.  These  are  truths  that  ought  to 
impress,  and  will,  when  the  brilliant  veil  that  ob- 
structs the  full  view  of  our  errors  is  torn  away ; 
though,  probably,  too  late.  Let  us  remember  the 
answer  which  Abraham  made  to  the  victim  in  my 
text,  when  he  implored  Lazarus  to  convey  to  his  five 
brethren  a  solemn  warning  from  his  fate !  No ; 
"  They  have  Moses  aud  the  prophets,  let  them  hear 
u  them ;  for  if  they  hear  them  not,  neither  will  they 
u  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead!" 

Having  shown,  from  the  awful  example  before  us, 
and  the  general  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  that  a  life  of 
pleasure  and  indulgence,  however  free  from  vice  or 
immorality,  cannot  accord  witli  the  hope  of  salva- 
tion ;  it  would  remain  naturally  to  enquire  what 
superiority  we  have  over  the  subject  of  our  parable, 
on  the  point  of  attention  to  the  calamities  of  our 
fellow-creatures.  Though  it  be  clear,  that  our 
blessed  Lord  did  not  intend  to  submit,  in  the  ne- 
glected case  of  Lazarus,  an  instance  of  deliberate 
inhumanity,  but  a  melancholy  evidence,  that,  when 
the  soul  is  immersed  in  the  enjoyments  of  sense. 


57 

every  duty  whatsoever  is  easily  overlooked ;  there  is 
yet  something  so  shocking  in  the  exhibited  contrast 
of  a  rich  and  gross  sensualist,  breathing  thick  at  the 
table  of  luxurious  vanity,  and  a  famishing  wretch, 
panting  for  its  very  cruinbs,  that  we  involuntarily 
turn  all  our  thoughts  to  that  inscrutable  distinction 
which  God  has  made  in  the  fortunes  of  his  crea- 
tures, and  the  consequent  most  sacred  obligation  of 
mercy.  But  wide  and  instructive  as  this  field  is,  I 
have  already  taken  up  too  large  a  portion  of  your 
time  to  pursue  it,  and  therefore  pass  to  the  object  of 
the  day. 

It  cannot  be  necessary  at  this  day  to  descant,  in 
detail,  on  the  merits  of  the  institution  for  the  support 
of  which  we  are  met.  My  predecessor  in  this  func- 
tion has  for  a  course  of  years,  without  interruption, 
and  with  a  degree  of  pathos  rarely  given  to  any 
man,  submitted  the  result  of  that  minute  and  labo- 
rious investigation,  which  uothing  but  the  utmost 
degree  of  interest  could  have  inspired.  What  then, 
my  brethren,  can  remain  for  me  ?  Is  it  to  repeat 
that  the  divine  example  of  Jesus  Christ  is  embodied 
in  a  human  institution?  Healing  diseases,  giving 
sight  to  the  blind  ?  almost  animation  to  the  grave  ? 
binding  up  every  wound,  meeting  every  sad  and 
cruel  disaster?  and,  like  the  God  it  represents, 
dismissing  in  peace  to  the  bosom  of  transported 
families,  the  staff  of  their  existence,  and  source  of 
all  their  joys  and  comforts.  Is  it  to  repeat,  that,  in 
this  awful  repository  of  divine  visitation,  multiplied 
cases  every  hour  occur,  that  no  human  feeling  can 


witness  without  horror  5  which  are  treated  with 
extraordinary  skill ;  nursed  with  extraordinary  ten- 
derness; soothed  under  the  torments  of  frightful 
operations  hy  the  lips  of  constitutional  humanity ; 
and  that  for  every  example  of  fatality  that  occurs, 
there  are  thousands  of  almost  miraculous  recoveries  ? 
Is  it  to  repeat  the  noble  and  disinterested  assiduity 
of  both  faculties,  who  fly  at  all  hours,  by  night  and 
by  day,  at  the  call  of  their  afflicted  fellow- creatures, 
without  fee  or  reward,  and  often  generously  supply 
aid  and  comforts  from  their  private  resources,  which 
the  means  of  this  institution  are  inadequate  to  afford? 
Is  it  to  repeat,  that  this  godlike  temple  of  life  and 
health  is  infinite  in  its  grasp  of  salvation,  taking  in 
the  wide  range  of  disease  and  casualty,  in  this  exten- 
sive county,  and  happily  rearing  its  head  in  a  quar- 
ter of  the  metropolis,  where  the  existence  of  misery 
is  as  vast  as  it  is  lamentable,  and  almost  every  lurk- 
ing place  offers  hourly,  in  one  way  or  another,  some 
spectacle  to  its  mercy  ?  Is  it,  in  fine,  to  repeat  that 
the  number  it  annually  succours,  or  more  properly 
saves,  stands  at  more  than  fifteen  thousand  !  and, 
of  course,  when  we  look  at  the  period  of  its  exist- 
ence, which  is  more  than  fifty  years,  must  nearly 
exceed  all  credibility.  These  are  the  merits  of  this 
institution.  In  a  word,  show  me  any  thing  of  the 
same  nature,  in  the  annals  of  humanity,  to  surpass, 
or  even  equal  it.  So  invincible  is  the  conviction  that 
has  taken  place,  of  its  unparalleled  service  to  the 
wretchedness  of  this  metropolis  and  county,  that  I 
could  point  out  several  individuals  (at  this  moment 
in  my  view)  too  cool  and  circumspect,  to  be  moved 


59 

in  this,  or  any  other  cause,  without  full  evidence  of 
its  merits,  but  not  the  less  humane,  because  thus  cir- 
cumspect, who  are  known  peculiarly  to  come  for- 
ward, aud  contribute  largely  on  this  day,  and  who,  I 
am  persuaded,  would  equally  do  so,  though  not  a 
word  were  uttered  in  recommendation  of  the  object. 
Let  me  for  a  moment  suppose  it  dissolved,  or  but 
feebly  supported,  what  would  be  the  consequence  ? 
I  defy  any  Christian,  who  has  an  atom  of  religion 
or  humanity,  to  think  of  it  without  shuddering: 
why  ?  The  impoverished  and  sequestered  parts  of 
the  city  would  present  more  than  the  bloody  and 
terrific  image  of  a  neglected  field  of  battle :  the 
moans  of  the  expiring,  the  agonies  of  the  maimed  and 
mutilated,  and  your  living  brethren  putrifying  unto 
death,  in  the  ray  of  that  sun  that  lights  you  every 
day,  to  happiness  and  enjoyment.  Do  you  think  I 
frame  this  as  the  mere  language  of  appeal  to  your 
feelings  ?  No,  as  God  liveth,  I  mean  no  more  than 
the  simple  exposition  of  a  case,  which  I  conceive  to 
be  as  much  beyond  description,  as  it  would  be  una- 
voidable. But  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  produce 
suitable  impressions.  It  is  the  misfortune  of  the 
ministry,  to  want  on  these  occasions  what  nothing 
can  supply,  an  appeal  to  the  living  evidence.  It 
would  be  necessary  to  transport  an  assembly  of  this 
nature  to  the  retreats  of  suffering  humanity.  It  is 
there  that  a  preacher  might  easily  be  eloquent,  and 
sure  to  impress.  It  is  there  that,  free  from  all  re- 
straint, without  fear  of  being  charged  with  exagge- 
ration, he  might  make  you  behold,  in  all  its  dreadful 
variety,  the  consequence  of  wanting,  or  not  suffiU 


60 

ciently  supporting,  an  institution  of  this  nature. 
There  the  first  movement  of  our  souls,  would  be 
fixed  astonishment ;  to  this  would  succeed  the  up- 
lifted eye  of  ardent  thanksgiving  for  the  advantages 
of  our  condition  ;  to  this  the  luxurious  sensation  of 
ineffable  pity  :  to  this,  not  the  cold  and  hesitating 
calculation,  what  we  shall  bestow,  but  the  rapid, 
and  undeliberating  profusion  of  mercy.  We  would 
retire,  my  brethren,  tortured,  happy,  improved  for 
ever.  All  calamity  whatever,  when  retired  from 
observation,  is  doubly  affecting.  We  conceive  a 
kind  of  mitigation  attached  even  to  the  fruitless  God 
help  you,  of  a  gaping  world ;  but  in  the  dreary 
nakedness  of  the  dismal  recess,  every  dire  visitation 
wears  a  face  of  sublime  horror.  Though  he  who 
on  the  unmade  bed  of  torture,  whether  from  disease 
or  accident,  languishes  and  perishes  unassisted  and 
unknown,  be  eminently  wretched ;  yet  the  richest, 
with  all  the  aids  they  can  receive  from  the  skill  of 
an  attentive  faculty,  and  the  countless  comforts  which 
affluence  can  supply,  still  experience  the  extremities 
of  disease  to'  be  intolerable,  and  often  look  to  death 
as  a  blessing.  Great  God  !  what  then  must  the  case 
be,  where  man,  in  the  same  situation,  seems  equally 
abandoned,  by  heaven  and  earth  ?  where  famine  is 
the  consequence  of  arrested  toil?  where  families 
in  consternation,  look  round,  without  hope,  or  pros- 
pect of  relief?  where  the  very  covering  of  the  dying 
victim  is  often  sent  by  his  afflicted  heart  to  support 
their  existence  ?  where  the  very  source  of  tears  is 
dried  up?  where  deep  despair,  extorting  the  lan- 
guage of  imprecation  against  Providence,  presents 


61 

the  horrible  combat  between  religion  and  nature  ? 
O  Charity  !  thou  principle  of  great  souls  !  how  glo- 
rious are  thy  works  !  Thou  createst  a  new  world  in 
the  moral  and  physical  order.  Thou  preventest  a 
deluge  of  indigence  !  -Thou  preventest  a  deluge  of 
vice  !  Thou  throwest  an  immortal  guard  round  virgin 
purity  !  Thou  recallest  not  the  dead,  but  thou  givest 
life,  as  on  this  day,  life  and  health  to  the  diseased 
and  the  expiring !  And  Oh  !  how  extraordinary,  my 
brethren,  is  the  goodness  of  God,  to  have  attached 
merit  to  a  virtue,  which  carries  with  it  here  below, 
around  us  and  within  us,  its  own  inexpressible 
reward ! 

My  brethren,  I  have  laid  before  you,  as  concisely 
as  I  could,  the  merits  of  the  object,  and  the  conse- 
quence that  would  follow  from  the  want  or  even  the 
neglect  of  it.  I  need  not  inform  you  that  its  only 
resource  is  one  hundred  pounds  annually  from  Par- 
liament, as  the  general  Hospital  of  this  County,  ad- 
ded to  the  result  of  this  day  :  all  that  it  has  hitherto 
been  able  to  accomplish,  is  to  provide  thirty  beds, 
for  the  more  desperate  cases,  though  the  house 
offers  capacity  for  more  than  seventy.  If  your  nature 
be  not  changed,  you  will  give  more  than  a  sigh  to 
this  shocking  circumstance.  And  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing a  scale  so  miserably  contracted,  the  number  of 
intern  patients  has  amounted  in  the  course  of  ten 
years  to  two  thousand  two  hundred  and  nineteen, 
which  added  to  the  externs  in  the  same  time,  makes 
a  whole  of  one  hundred  forty-eight  thousand  two 
hundred  and  nineteen,  which  is  about  fifteen  thon 

n 


62 

sand  per  year.  I  do  not  know  what  this  day  has 
been  destined,  in  the  designs  of  God,  to  present ; 
but  this  I  know,  that  if  it  be  not  great,  it  cannot  be 
for  want  of  solemn  conviction  on  this  point.  I  am 
not  discouraged  by  the  language  I  hear ; — That  this 
appeal  came  too  late ;  that  the  town  is  swept  by  the 
multiplicity  of  calls  upon  it ;  that  so  many  wealthy 
and  benevolent  characters,  are  absent  in  another 
country  ; — it  is  madness  to  think,  that  contributions 
on  these  occasions  can  maintain  their  past  glorious 
level.  It  is,  however,  that  madness  which  I  confess 
I  am  afflicted  with.  It  has  not  hitherto  been  desti- 
tute of  reason.  Some  seasons  are  now  elapsed, 
since  those  melancholy  forebodings  have  been  on  the 
wing  in  every  circle.  Yet  it  has  pleased  him,  who 
u  out  of  these  stones,  could  raise  children  unto 
"  Abraham  ;"  it  has  pleased  him,  in  the  face  of  all 
obstacles,  to  support  his  work.  What  does  the  event 
of  mercy,  still  evidently  triumphant,  prove,  but  that 
we  know  not  ourselves  ?  I  am,  therefore,  without 
fear.  I  look  to  you,  my  brethren,  with  immoveable 
confidence.  Support  your  convictions,  for  convinced 
you  are,  of  the  unspeakable  merits  of  the  case.  1 
ask  no  more.  To  the  humblest,  the  least  gifted  in- 
dividual in  this  place,  I  look,  as  well  as  to  the  most 
prosperous,  for  a  double  effort  on  this  day.  Bleed- 
ing, tender  humanity  is  confined  to  no  order.  Many 
a  man,  as  I  once  before  said,  standing  in  the  aisle  of 
the  church,  unnoticed,  and  unknown,  has  given  evi- 
dence of  this  truth,  that  will  shine  in  the  book  of 
life  for  ever.  Often  is  a  diamond  of  the  purest  water, 
covered  with  an  encrustation  of  the  coarsest  matter. 


63 

Often  bave  the  burning  and  ungovernable  feelings  of. 
compassion  even  mastered  the  instinct  of  self  preser- 
vation ; — witness  the  widow  of  Zarepta,  from  whom 
the  prophet  of  the  Lord  was  directed  to  seek  shelter 
and  support,  in  a  season  of  famine  ;  from  her  whose 
whole  property,  under  the  sun,  was  "  an  handful  of 
"  meal  in  a  barrel,  and  a  drop  of  oil  in  a  cruse,"  and 
yet  to  him,  at  the  first  aspeo*  of  his'  extraordinary 
misery,  did  she  sacrifice,  without  a  moment's  hesi- 
tation, the  last  morsel  of  herself  and  child.  Let  a 
spark  of  this  divine  impulse  be  known  in  this  case 
to  all  around  me ;  and  all  shall  find,  like  her,  a  ten- 
der and  attentive  Providence  watching  over  their 
concerns ;  covering  them,  as  it  did  the  fleece  of 
Gideon,  with  the  dew  of  heaven,  and  giving  to  each, 
an  increase  of  an  hundred  fold.  One  word  more,  my 
brethren.  I  did  that  in  the  first  part  of  this  discourse 
which  I  conceived  to  be  most  inviolably  my  duty 
towards  God.  Oh  !  let  not  the  freedom  of  speech  I 
have  used,  be  visited  in  any  instance  on  the  object 
for  which  I  plead.  Deal  with  me  out  of  this  place 
as  you  please,  but  remember,  here,  that  I  am  the 
advocate  of  unparalleled  calamity  :  remember  also, 
that  if  I  have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  give  offence 
to  any,  it  is  but  the  surer  indication  I  was  right. 

Now  to  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God 
the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  for  ever 
and  ever !  Amen. 


SERMON  III. 


Proverbs,  xxxi.  30. 

il   woman  that  feareth   the   IatH;    ehe   shall   be 
praised. 


THE  language  of  the  text  speaks,  in  emphatic 
terms,  the  nature  and  the  glory  of  your  work.  You 
are  assembled  to  rescue  the  greatest  mass  of  female 
innocence,  that  ever  was  offered  in  this  nation  to 
public  mercy,  in  any  one  institution,  from  conse- 
quences, which  I  shall  dwell  on  in  the  sequel ;  and 
render  them  what  virtuous  and  Christian  women 
have  ever  been  found,  the  most  powerful  instruments 
of  good  in  the  hands  of  God.  The  personal  happi- 
ness and  salvation  of  these  children,  is  the  least  of 
the  benefits  that  arise  from  your  present  bounty. 
You  plant  in  their  education,  the  oak,  round  which 
the  ivy  twines  and  aspires ;  that  is,  the  example 
which  irresistibly  attracts,  nay,  commands,  in  the 
great  cause  of  virtue  and  religion.   That  women  ar* 


66 

susceptible  of  stronger  and  more  lasting  impressions 
than  men,  we  see,  by  the  almost  invariable  constancy 
and  fidelity  of  their  attachments — even  the  slight 
tincture  of  the  serious,  which  their  fashionable  edu- 
cation imparts,  is  seldom  obliterated  by  all  the  hurry 
and  confusion  of  a  life  of  gaiety  and  pleasure.  You 
will  rarely,  perkaps  never,  see  a  woman,  to  whom 
any  idea  of  religion  has  been  communicated,  entirely 
abandon  a  compliance  with  any  of  its  external  duties ; 
or  insult  its  principles,  by  the  language  of  profane- 
ness  and  contempt.  There  is  a  fervor  in  the  soil  of 
a  female  heart,  which  never  misses  sending  up  what 
it  receives,  be  the  culture  ever  so  scanty;  when 
abundant,  the  return  is  invariably  glorious.  We 
Lave  numberless  examples  of  women  in  the  Holy 
Writings,  and  in  every  period  of  Christianity,  that 
fill  us  with  astonishment,  at  the  sacred  sublimity 
and  heroism  of  their  characters — and  the  history  of 
the  Pagan  world,  particularly  the  austere  and  vir- 
tuous days  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  common- 
wealths, aiford  likewise  the  most  illustrious  proofs 
that  the  sex,  when  properly  directed,  can  be  more 
than  the  rival  of  man,  in  every  action,  every  sacri- 
fice that  goes  to  dignify  and  exalt  the  human  name. 
From  the  very  appearance  of  female  depravity,  we 
recoil,  as  from  something  shocking  and  annatural ; 
while  men  the  most  immoral  and  abandoned  are 
always  overawed,  and  not  unfrequently  reformed,  by 
the  contemplation  of  female  excellence.  Even  the 
most  profligate  libertines  approach  it,  with  a  secret 
reverence  which  they  cannot  account  for,  and  are 
equally  unable  to  repress.     Wonderful,  that  a  crea- 


67 

hire  naturally  so  defenceless,  so  weak  in  conforma- 
tion, so  timid  in  her  ways,  so  unaspiring  in  her 
pursuits,  so  humble  in  her  destination ;  born,  I  may 
say,  to  serve ;  should  yet,  under  certain  circumstan- 
ces, possess  an  empire  that  nothing  can  resist,  that 
renders  her  very  silence  eloquence,  her  entreaties 
law,  nay,  her  presence  alone  superior  to  the  most 
awful  considerations,  in  the  control  of  licentious- 
ness and  vice.  Yet  so  it  is,  such  has  universal 
experience  declared  to  be  the  ascendancy  of  virtue 
and  religion  in  woman.  And  here,  my  brethren, 
may  I  not  be  allowed  to  lament  the  little  benefit  de- 
rived from  this  signal  and  blessed  ^distinction.  Is 
the  education  too  generally  conferred  on  the  better 
orders  of  women  of  a  nature  to  elicit  such  fruits  ? 
or  is  it  such  as  even  to  qualify  them  for  rational  and 
improved  intercourse  with  the  other  sex  ?  Would 
not  one  think,  from  the  shameful  neglect  of  storing 
their  minds  even  with  the  common  elements  of 
knowledge,  that  they  were  ordained  by  God  and 
nature  to  be  no  more  than  mere  sportive  toys,  or 
simple  instruments  of  increase?  How  few  do  we 
find  who  possess  any  more  information  on  the  com- 
monest subjects,  than  what  a  sense  of  their  own 
degradation  has  enabled  them  confusedly  to  pick  up, 
or  chance  has  infused  from  habits  of  society  with  the 
other  sex?  Why,  in  the  name  of  justice,  should 
the  native  powers  and  capacity  of  women,  remain  so 
glaringly  uncultivated,  when  all  experience  has  pro- 
ved them  to  be  such  as  to  admit  their  aspiring  to, 
and  obtaining  the  most  brilliant  degree  of  mental 
acquirements  ?  Why  should  they  be  cut  off  from  the 


68 

noblest  enjoyment  .next  to  that  of  virtue,  which  a 
human  creature  can  know?  The  enjoyment  that 
flows  from  the  pursuits  and  inquiries  of  an  enlight- 
ened and  exercised  mind.  When  I  behold  a  beau- 
tiful form,  and  reflect  that  underneath  so  enchanting 
an  appearance  there  is  probably  added  nothing  but 
what  goes  to  inspire  pity  or  contempt ;  I  am  doubly 
shocked  at  the  cruelty  of  her  destiny,  and  consider 
the  injustice  done  her  as  beyond  all  human  atone- 
ment. 

If  men  would  only  reflect  on  what  they  lose,  in 
the  neglected  cultivation  of  the  female  intellect,  it  is 
impossible,  methinks,  but  they  should  determine  on 
more  attention  to  a  circumstance  so  capable  of  af- 
fording the  most  delightful  resource  in  all  intervals 
of  duty  or  business.  The  largest  portion  of  our 
days  is  passed  in  the  society  of  women ;  to  what  a 
melancholy  condition  therefore  must  a  man  be  re- 
duced, if  either  constrained  to  lay  the  language  of 
his  reason  aside,  or  feed  on  himself  in  solitary  rumi- 
nation !  But  the  greatest  misfortune  is, '  that  women 
are  not  only  trained  in  a  way  humiliating  to  their 
understandings,  but  too  generally  incompatible  with 
the  Christian  character.  I  am  sure  I  am  not  incli- 
ned to  misrepresent,  nor  do  I  wish  to  go  into  par- 
ticulars ;  but  if  we  are  to  judge  by  established 
manners,  to  what  must  their  first  breathings  have 
been  directed,  but  to  the  art  of  coming  as  close  to 
propriety  as  reputation  will  admit ;  reconciling  every 
thing  with  religion,  which  religion  does  not  formally 
denounce.     What  can  speak  the  most  distant  con- 


69 

fidence  and  security  to  the  soul  of  a  Christian  under 
such  a  course  ?  Is  it  tiiat  the  world,  in  the  midst 
of  which  they  live,  too  generally  conforms  to  it  ?  Is 
it  that  persons  strictly  irreproachable   do  the  same  ? 
But  it  ought  to  he  reflected,  that  before  the  manners 
of  Christians  began  to  degenerate,  things  that  are 
now  consecrated    by   usage,   were  then  monstrous 
singularities.     It  ought  to   be  considered  that   we 
shall  be  judged  oy  the  Gospel,  and  not  by. received 
practice ;  that  whatever  has  arisen  merely  from  the 
decay  of  fervor  and  piety,  are  abuses  to  be  deplored, 
not  models  to  be  followed  ;  in  a  word,  that  the  life 
of  a  Christian  is  too  revolting  to  nature  ever  to  be- 
come the  taste  of  the  greater  number.     Suppose  I 
were  to  tell  you  from  this  place,  that  the  Gospel 
was  not  in  fact  so  severe  a  system  as  it  is  generally 
represented ;  that  to  idolize  the  world,  and   acquit 
ourselves  to  God  were  things  perfectly  reconcileable; 
that  there  was  not  the  least  harm  in  the  breathless 
pursuit  of  pleasure,  which  reason  alone  pronounces 
to  be  unworthy  of  thinking  beings ;  that  Christians 
were  at  full  liberty  to  rack  their  invention  in  order 
to  diversify  and  give  zest  to  an  eternal  round  of  emp- 
tiness and  folly;  that  provided  they  dispense  charity 
with  one  hand,  they  may  lavish  with  the  other  as 
much  as  they  please;    that  religion  admitted  such 
compensation ;  that  all   they  hear  about  a  simple, 
frugal,  and  retired  life,  strict  attention  to  domestic 
duties,  perfect  modesty  of  mien  and  apparel ;  a  life 
of  prayer,  penitence,  and  self  denial,  cannot,  if  they 
mean  any  thing  at  all,   be  applicable  to  persons, 
whose  condition,  from  long  prescription,   entitles 

I 


70 

tliem  to  more  latitude.  What  opinion  would  you 
entertain  of  this  new  and  very  convenient  doctrine  ? 
Would  you  consider  the  man  who  uttered  it,  worthy 
of  respect,  and  better  instructed  than  others  in  the 
science  of  salvation  ?  No,  my  brethren,  you  would 
either  openly  deride  his  ignorance,  or  retire  with 
precipitation  and  horror,  from  so  shocking  a  profa- 
nation of  his  sacred  function.  What  are  we  then, 
my  brethren,  I  may  say,  but  the  hypocritical  slaves 
of  the  world  and  its  pleasures,  when  we  justify 
aloud,  what  we  condemn  in  secret !  And  how  con- 
founding will  that  judgment  be,  which  condemns  us 
on  the  evidence  of  our  own  hearts  !  Were  it  possibk 
for  Christians  to  be  calm  in  the  course  I  have  descri- 
bed, free  as  it  is  from  any  thing  gross  and  immoral, 
let  them  hear  the  express  words  of  Jesus  Christ  on 
the  subject  "  no  man  can  serve  two  masters."  H  Ye 
u  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon."  "  Woe  unto 
"  you  that  are  full  now,  for  ye  shall  hunger  !  Woe 
u  unto  you  that  laugh  now,  for  ye  shall  mourn  and 
u  weep."  "  Verily  I  say  unto  you  the  world  shall 
"  rejoice,  but  ye  shall  be  sorrowful,  and  your  sorrow 
"shall  be  turned  into  joy."  This,  my  brethren,  is 
the  Gospel.  What  exception  appears  on  the  face 
of  it,  in  favour  of  any  description  of  Christians? 
No,  the  more  elevated  we  are,  the  greater  our  pros- 
perity, the  more  absolutely  indispensible  an  adhe- 
rence to  the  letter  of  our  profession,  the  more 
incessant  should  our  vigilance  be ;  the  more  decla- 
red and  lively  our  faith,  the  more  fervent  and  con- 
tinued our  prayer  ;  the  more  heroic  our  self  denial, 
the  more  exalted  every  virtue.     Because,  our  dan- 


n 

ger  is  much  greater,  and  more  awful  than  it  would 
be  in  an  obscurer  station.  Because,  it  is  the  nature 
of  prosperity  to  corrupt,  to  bind  us  faster  to  the 
world,  to  furnish  occasions  of  vice  at  every  step,  to 
favour  and  facilitate  the  indulgence  of  evil  passions; 
to  render  abortive  all  good  desires,  and  extinguish  in 
the  soul,  all  aspiring  to  a  better  state,  all  recollection 
of  God  and  futurity.  Above  all,  because  it  is  a  state 
which  Jesus  Christ  in  plain  terms  has  pronounced 
to  be  nearly  incompatible  with  salvation. 

Were  the  world  to  judge  us,  we  might  look  for 
the  privilege  of  fancy,  of  a  soft  and  convenient  way. 
But  the  world  itself  will  be  judged  ;  and  he  that  will 
judge  it,  and  us  too,  will  not  distinguish  Christians 
by  their  riches,  or  their  rank,  but  by  their  merits  or 
demerits,  their  virtues,  or  their  crimes.     Here,  will 
he  say,  is  my  law.     I  delivered  it,  without  an  iota 
of  variation,  to  the  mighty  and  the  mean.     I  inquire 
not,   therefore,   what  you  are ;    but  how  you  have 
conformed   to  it ;    how  you   have  lived  ;  what   use 
have  you   made  of  the  talent  I  confided   to  you? 
These  will  be,  my  brethren,  the  terrible  questions 
addressed  to  all.     I  leave  the  inference  to  yourselves  ; 
and  return,   observing  only,  that  no  infatuation  can 
be  more  deplorable,  either  with  respect  to  our  eternal 
interest,  or  even  the  interest  of  this  world,  than  that 
which  leads  us  to  ruin,  with  our  eyes  open. 

If  the  sex,  in  their  intercourse,  be  of  the  highest 
importance  to  the  moral  and  religious  state  of  society, 
they  are  still  more  so  in  their  domestic  relations. 


72 

What  a  public  blessing,  what  an  instrument  of  the 
most  exalted  good  is  a  virtuous  Christian  mother  ? 
It  would  require  a  far  other  pen  than  mine  to  trace 
the  merits  of  such  a  character.  How  many,  perhaps, 
who  now  hear  me,  feel  that  they  owe  to  it  all  the 
virtue  and  piety  that  adorns  them  ;  or  may  recollect 
at  this  moment,  some  saint  in  heaven,  that  brought 
them  into  light  to  labour  for  their  happiness,  tempo- 
ral and  eternal !  No  one  can  be  ignorant  of  the 
irresistible  influence  which  such  a  mother  possesses, 
in  forming  the  hearts  of  her  children,  at  a  season 
when  nature  takes  in  lesson  and  example  at  every 
pore.  Confined  by  duty  and  inclination  within  the 
walls  of  her  own  house,  every  hour  of  her  life  be- 
comes an  hour  of  instruction ;  every  feature  of  her 
conduct  a  transplanted  virtue.  Methinks,  I  behold 
her  encircled  by  her  beloved  charge,  like  a  being 
more  than  human,  to  which  every  mind  is  bent,  and 
every  eye  directed ;  the  eager  simplicity  of  infancy 
inhaling  from  her  lips  the  sacred  truths  of  religion, 
in  adapted  phrase  and  familiar  story;  the  whole 
rule  of  their  moral  and  religious  duties  simplified  for 
easier  infusion.  The  countenance  of  this  fond  and 
anxious  parent,  all  beaming  with  delight  and  love, 
and  her  eye  raised  occasionally  to  heaven  in  fervent 
supplication  Tor  a  blessing  on  her  work.  O!  what  a 
glorious  part  does  such  a  woman  act  on  the  great 
theatre  of  humanity ;  and  how  much  is  the  mortal 
to  be  pitied,  who  is  not  struck  with  the  image  of  such 
excellence !  When  I  look  to  its  consequences  direct 
and  remote,  I  see  the  plants  she  has  raised  and 
cultivated  spreading  through  the  community  with 


73 

the  richest  increase  of  fruit.  I  see  her  diffusing 
happiness  and  virtue  through  a  great  portion  of  the 
human  race.  I  can  fancy  generations  yet  unborn 
rising  to  prove  and  to  hail  her  worth.  I  adore 
that  God  who  can  destine  a  single  human  creature 
to  be  the  stem  of  sueli  extended  and  incalculable 
benefit  to  the  world.  It  is  scarce  possible  for  the 
human  mind  to  offer  an  argument  more  powerful  in 
support  of  an  institution  like  this,  to  those  whose 
views  are  christian  and  public. 

In  the  character  of  wife  we  find  a  virtuous  woman 
equally  existing  for  the  happiest  purposes.  Mar- 
riage, 'tis  true,  is  often  a  state  in  which  neither  of 
the  parties  is  much  the  better  for  coming  together. 
When  all  study  and  consideration  of  their  worth  is 
put  out  of  the  question  in  the  motives  that  bring  on 
the  connexion,  the  result  must  generally  be,  and 
naturally  is,  both  unfavourable  to  their  felicity  and 
their  manners.  Judge  what  a  miserable  business 
it  is  that  terminates  at  best,  after  a  short  period,  in 
a  compromise  to  detest  each  other,  with  ceremony 
and  politeness,  and  pursue  their  respective  way  of 
folly  or  depravity,  according  to  their  fancy ;  a  case 
where  terms  of  endearment  are  used  that  the  heart 
disavows,  and  a  mask  of  union  and  affection  put  on 
in  the  vain  hope  of  blindfolding  the  world.  Yet 
such,  I  fear,  is  the  fate  of  many,  many  a  pair ;  and 
must  ever  be  so  where  the  only  inducement  to  the 
state  is  passion,  interest,  or  the  pride  of  alliance. 
Nothing  however  is  more  true  than  what  the  Apostle 
has  asserted,  that  a  Christian  wife  is  the  salvation 


74 

uf  ber  husband.     For  surely,  if  any  thing  can  have 
power  to  wean  a  man  from  evil,  it  is  the  living 
image  of  all  that  is  perfect,  constantly  before  his 
eyes,  in  the  person  whom,  next  to  God,  he  is  forced 
to  reverence  and  respect ;  and  who,  next  to  God,  he 
must  be  assured,  has  his  present  and  future  felicity 
most  at  heart ;    who  joins  to  the  influence  of  her 
example,  the  most  assiduous  attention   to   please ; 
who  knows,  from  the  experience   of  every   hour, 
where  his  errors  and  vices  may  be  assailed  with  any 
prospect  of  success ;  who  is  instructed,  by  the  close 
study  of  his  disposition,  when  to  speak,  and  when  to 
be  silent ;  who  watches  and  distinguishes  that  gleam 
of  reflection  which  no  eye  can  perceive  but  her  own  ; 
who  can  fascinate  by  the  mildness  and  humility  of 
her  manner,   at  the   moment  she  expostulates  and 
reproves ;  who  receives  him  with  smiles  and  kind- 
ness, even  when  conscience  smites  him  the  most  with 
a  sense  of  his  neglect  and  unworthiness ;  who  has 
always  a  resource  at  hand  in  big  difficulties,  and 
tender  apologies  to  reprieve  him  from  himself:  and 
a  gracious  presentiment  ever  on  her  lips,  that  the 
day  will  come,  when  he  will  know  how  to  value  the 
advantages  of  good  conduct,  and  the  unruffled  sere- 
nity of  virtue.     Yes,  my  brethren,  the  ministry  of 
such  a  woman  is  daily  found  to  work  the  reformation 
of  our  sex,   when  all   other   resources  fail ;    when 
neither  misfortune,  nor  shame,  nor  the  counsels  of 
friendship,  nor  the  considerations  of  Hell  nor  Heaven 
have  any    more    effect   than   the    whistling  of  the 
elements.      Merciful  God !    how  zealously  should 
we  therefore  labour  to  diffuse  such  characters  through 


75 

the  people !  And  how  little  perhaps  do  we  reflect, 
when  we  turn  to  these  orphans,  to  what  sacred, 
what  glorious  ends  they  are  destined  ! 

I  have  done  with  this  view  of  my  subject.     You 
have  seen  as  clearly,  and  perhaps  as  forcibly  as 
could  be  expected,  from  a  mind  exhausted  by  con- 
tinual  efforts  in  this  way,  the  fruits  resulting  from  a 
virtuous  and  Christian  sex ;  consequently,  part  of 
the  merit  of  this  great  institution.    Let  me  now  pro- 
ceed to  consider  it  as  a  security  to  female  innocence, 
against  the  extremities  of  misery  and  vice.     How 
often,  my  brethren,  have  I  laid  before  you  the  me- 
lancholy side  of  this  subject !    How  often  described, 
in  every  colour  which  imagination  could   supply, 
that  immense  variety  of  wretchedness,  to  which  such 
objects  as  these  would  be  more  than  exposed,  with- 
out the  protection   you  afford   them !     How  often 
endeavoured  to  excite  emulation,  in  support  of  theii 
cause,  by  long  and  separate  appeals  to  the  male  and 
female  part  of  my  hearers !     Is  it  not  time  to  reflect, 
that  all  such  grounds,  however  powerful  in  moving 
the  springs  of  our  compassion,  become  puerile,  and 
even  disgusting,  when  too  repeatedly  insisted  on  ? 
Is  it  not  clear,  that  the  institution  I  plead  for,  is  not 
to  be  shaken  in  the  public  opinion  or  heart  ?    Does 
not  every  revolving  year  create  a  new  fervor  in  its 
behalf?    Has  it  not  grown,  under  the  invariable  pa- 
tronage of  the  upper  and  middling  classes,  to  be  a 
monument  of  humanity,  in  its  kind,  never  surpassed? 
What  then  can  it  require  from  me,  or  any  other  ad- 
vocate, at  this  period  of  its  being,  but  the  mere  form 


76 

of  an  appearance,  with  the  simplest  and  least  labour- 
ed exposition  of  its  merits  ? 

"I  will  go  after  lovers  that  will  give  me  bread/*' 
is  the  desperate  resolution  of  unhappy  women,  ex- 
pressed in  the  Prophet  Hosea.     There  have  you,  in 
a  word,  as  strongly  and  impressively  as  thousands 
could  convey,  the  history  of  every  female  creature, 
that  is  cast,  without  resource,  on  the  iniquity  of  the 
world.     Surely,   of  all  the  objects  that  can  present 
themselves  to  human  commiseration,  they  must  ever 
have  the  pre-eminence,  while  our  nature  is  as  it  is, 
the  horror  of  whose  fate  is  thus  felt  and  understood 
at  a  glance  ;  and  whose  spotless  purity  draws  them 
instinctively  to  our  bosoms,  for  shelter  and  protection, 
against  unnatural  defilement.     There  is  but  one  des- 
cription of  beings  in  the  universe  that  turn  away  from 
the  doors  of  such  an  assembly  as  this,  with   sorrow 
and  disappointment  at  their  hearts.     Men  born  for 
the  disaster  of  the  sex,  whose  brutal  and  ungovern- 
able passions,  mastering  every  sentiment  of  pity  and 
generosity  in  their  souls,  urge  them  to  deeds  beyond 
the  very  reach  of  atonement !     Nay,  the  very  recol- 
lection of  which  is  often  so  intolerable  to  themselves, 
as  to  require  the  habit  of  banishing   even  reason 
itself,  to  mitigate  the  horror  of  their  feelings !    And 
what  aggravates,  beyond  expression,  the  enormity 
of  such  guilt,  is,  that  were  ordinary  means  are  insuf- 
ficient to  the  accomplishment  of  its  diabolical  purpo- 
ses, it  can  veil  itself  in  the  deepest  hypocrisy ;  can 
appeal  even  to  Heaven  to  witness  the  purity  of  its 
intentions ;  have  recourse  to  the  most  horrid  profan- 


77 

ation  of  vows  and  promises  ;  steal  an  artless  creature 
into  perfect  reliance  on  its  honour;  lead  her  to  her 
fall,  as  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting  lamb  is  con- 
ducted to  the  sacrifice  5  riot  for  a  while  on  the  pol- 
luted  ruin  :  then  leave  her,  like  a  tender  blossom, 
blasted  in  its  spring,  either  to  droop  in  silent  melan- 
choly to  the  grave;  or  rush  from  despair  into  the 
depths  of  infamy,  and  revenge  her  wrongs  on  the 
community. 

Christians,  why  is  this  execrable  cast  of  men  so 
little  reprobated  in  the  world  ?  To  be  formidable 
and  irresistible  10  this  way,  has  ever  been  a  kind  of 
glory.  The  more  public  and  notorious  they  are,  the 
more  pride  in  their  steps,  the  more  elevated  their 
brows.  There  are  degrees  of  guilt  you  would  spurn 
from  your  presence,  and  blush  to  hold  the  most  dis- 
tant intercourse  with.  A  man  convicted,  even  in 
mean  and  dishonourable  actions,  is  avoided  like  a 
pestilence.  But  from  what  society,  what  inter- 
course, what  intimacy,  is  the  libertine  by  profession 
excluded  ?  To  the  scandal  of  all  decency,  religion 
and  morals,  from  few.  Nay,  it  would  almost  seem, 
that  the  infamous  title  he  bears  was  no  small  recom- 
mendation. For  what  impression  does  an  allusion 
to  his  pursuits  usually  excite,  but  that  of  merriment 
and  laughter?  This  goes  to  confirm  and  encourage, 
instead  of  appalling  him ;  brings  complacency  into 
his  heart,  not  the  blush  of  shame  into  his  cheek. 
When  so  few  turn  from  him  with  disgust  and  horror, 
has  he  not  a  right  to  conclude,  that  he  is  engaged  in 
a  career  which  the  world  approves  ?  And  yet,  what 

K 


78 

is  he  in  fact,  but  one  of  the  greatest  pests  a  commu- 
nity can  be  cursed  with ;  whose  whole  life  has  no 
other  object  but  to  convert  it  into  a  scene  of  calamity 
and  vice  ?  Who  is  known  to  make  charity,  yes,  sa- 
cred charity,  the  pander  of  his  foul  appetites  ;  will 
open  his  hand  with  profusion  to  the  necessitous,  in 
order  to  shut  their  eyes  on  the  prostitution  of  their 
children ;  who  respects  not  rights  that  are  rigor- 
ously respected  by  very  barbarians ;  would  dis- 
honour the  family  of  his  host  or  friend  with  the 
same  indifference  that  he  would  that  of  the  meanest 
of  human  creatures  :  and  be  as  ready  to  meet,  that 
is,  to  imbrue  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  the  father  or 
brother  of  his  victim,  as  he  was  to  destroy  the  chief 
source  of  their  pride  and  happiness  for  ever.  Alas  ! 
how  many  unfortunate  parents,  after  the  fatal  dis- 
honour of  a  child,  have  never  raised  their  heads 
more,  nor  passed  a  moment  of  remaining  life  but  in 
counting  the  pulsations  of  a  broken  heart.  Continue, 
my  brethren,  your  protection  to  this  heavenly  asy- 
lum of  innocence.  The  strongest  censure  you  can 
pass  on  such  monsters,  for  monsters  they  are,  is  to 
snatch  the  prey  from  their  ruthless  fangs.  If  it  be 
mercy  to  hold  out  a  hand  to  the  fallen  creature ; 
oh,  what  transcendent  mercy  must  it  be  to  prevent 
all  that  is  lovely  to  the  eye  of  virtue  and  of  sense, 
from  sharing  the  same  fate !  Many,  many  a  poor 
undone  creature,  that  now  rolls  in  the  horrible  abyss 
of  prostitution,  would  have  lived  to  be  all  that  I 
have  represented  in  the  former  part  of  this  dis- 
course, had  she  been  offered,  at  the  tender  season  of 
these  orphaus,  to  such  mercy  as  yours.     No  woman 


79 

ever  voluntarily  surrendered  the  blessing  of  a  fair 
name.  The  sensitive  plant  shrinks  not  more  in- 
stinctively from  the  touch,  than  the  nature  of  woman 
from  defilement.  Many  circumstances  contribute  to 
render  her  an  easy  prey  to  the  wiles  and  villainy  of 
man.  Ignorance  of  God,  bitter  necessity,  neglect  of 
parents,  and  not  unfrequently,  in  the  lower  classes,  a 
hellish  connivance  of  parents  at  the  ruin  of  their  chil- 
dren from  base  motives  of  gain.  But  the  love  and 
pride  of  purity  are  still  entwined  with  her  being,  and 
the  last  breath  of  virtue  ever  consecrated  to  the  fair 
state  from  which  she  falls.  Often,  in  the  midst  of 
the  most  thoughtless  and  headlong  course  of  vice, 
will  the  tear  of  sad  recollection  steal  down  into  the 
empoisoned  cup.  Though,  generally,  she  may  be 
found  to  evince  a  detestation  of  the  modest  and  vir- 
tuous part  of  her  sex,  it  is  not,  believe  me,  that  hap- 
py distinction  from  which  she  recoils,  but  from  the 
objects  that  too  strongly  remind  her  of  her  own 
infamy  and  degradation.  Continue,  I  repeat,  your 
protection  to  these  pure  and  unfriended  creatures. 
What  is  there  in  the  greatest  wealth,  when  stripped 
of  such  luxury?  The  vilest  of  the  human  race  often 
possess  it,  as  well  as  many  of  you.  It  cannot,  in 
itself,  render  any  man  respected  while  living,  or  his 
memory,  when  dead.  It  confers  not  in  itself  one  soli- 
tary talent,  one  solitary  virtue.  It  may  roll  through 
the  public  way  in  gaudiest  magnificence,  yet  sink 
under  the  collected  scorn  of  the  world.  All  the  or- 
dinary enjoyments  it  procures  are  transient,  and 
quickly  forgotten ;  and  many  out  of  the  four  and 
'twenty  hours  of  every  day,  namely,  those  of  repose, 


80 

see  its  possessor  destitute  as  the  meanest  slave.  It  is 
unequal  to  remove  one  pang  from  the  heart,  one 
ache  from  the  head.  It  leaves  us  at  the  opening 
of  the  grave.  We  behold  it  on  the  bed  of  death 
with  frozen  indifference,  or  fruitless  avidity.  Our 
beirs  too  often  pant  for  our  expiring  breath.  And 
naked  we  pass  to  the  embrace  of  corruption,  with 
the  blessings,  or  the  curses  of  the  unfortunate  on  our 
heads;  either  woeful  victims  of  perverted  gifts,  or 
confident  heirs  to  a  blessed  immortality.  Oh,  may 
the  latter  be  the  lot  of  every  individual  who  hears 
me!  Continue  ; to  use  the  means  with  which  Provi- 
dence has  blessed  you,  whether  moderate  or  great, 
as  you  have  hitherto  used  them.  If  it  would  be  rasb 
in  me  to  say,  what  I  fear  a  mistaken  zeal  has  top 
often  asserted,  that  superior  beneficence  is  omnipotent 
with  God  ;  I  may  safely  say  after  him,  that  even 
a  mite  cast  into  the  lap  of  misery,  in  his  name, 
will  not  lose  its  reward.  Think,  particularly  on 
this  great  occasion,  that  you  are  come,  not  simply  to 
indulge  your  feelings,  in  a  case  of  irresistible  tempo- 
ral interest,  but  likewise  to  save  immortal  souls. 
Heaven  is  not  more  distant  from  earth,  than  the 
importance  of  the  temporal  lot  of  those  children  is 
beneath  that  of  their  eternal.  Little  !  little  does  the 
mere  man  of  feeling  know,  what  a  powerful  argu- 
ment this  is  with  a  true  Christian  ;  or  what  aston- 
ishing sacrifices  he  is  capable  of,  in  such  a  cause. 
Let  me  tell  you,  what  perhaps  you  do  not  reflect 
upon,  that  in  the  case  of  female  children,  the  consi- 
deration is,  if  possible,  more  paramount. 


81 


I  am  sensible  what  the  opinions  of  many  men  are, 
on  the  subject  of  future  responsibility.  All  I  will 
say  to  this  is,  that  if  there  be  a  God  above  us,  he 
has  not  placed  us  on  this  earth  as  mere  frail  ma- 
chines, distinguished  indeed  from  the  brute,  by  the 
glorious  prerogative  of  reason,  but  equally  destined 
to  au  eternal  sleep.  There  must  be,  after  death, 
rewards  for  the  virtuous,  and  punishments  for  the 
wicked  ;  a  truth  so  invincibly  supported  by  the  light 
of  reason,  and  so  independent  of  revelation,  that  it 
existed  at  all  times,  and  among  all  people,  as  one  of 
those  original  impressions,  that  present  themselves 
with  the  idea  of  a  supreme  Being,  and  form  a  part  of 
natural  religion.  Now,  it  hs  impossible  to  conceive 
any  essential  difference  between  good  and  evil,  with- 
out the  establishment  of  this  truth;  or  to  annex  the 
attributes  of  justice,  wisdom,  or  holiness,  to  the 
name  of  God,  if  we  suppose  him  an  indifferent  spec- 
tator of  crimes,  which  he  must  necessarily  abhor  : 
admitting  all,  without  distinction,  to  his  glory  ;  pla- 
cing the  murderer  by  the  side  of  his  victim,  Cain  on 
the  same  throne  with  Abel.  But,  whatever  common 
reason  may  say  on  this  point,  it  must  be  admitted,  at 
least,  that  revelation  is  dreadfully  explicit  on  it. 
Indeed,  the  various  passages  that  treat  of  it  in  the 
Old  and  New  Testament  can  scarcely  be  contempla- 
ted without  a  shock  of  the  imagination.  Not  a  single 
want  of  uniformity  appears  in  any,  either  as  to  the 
certainty  of  future  punishments,  or  the  nature  and 
duration  of  them.  Kven  Jesus  Christ  himself,  who 
came  to  conyerse  with  man  in  a  ministry  of  mildness 
and  charity,  spoke   the  same  inexorable  language, 


82 

and  seems  specially  intent  on  every  occasion  to  cut 
up  the  false  confidence  of  sinners  by  the  roots. 
This  therefore  is  certain,  that  whatever  some  in- 
fatuated Christians  may  promise  themselves,  or 
however  ingenuous  they  may  be,  in  believing  on  the 
easiest  terms ;  that  is,  on  the  principle  of  having 
nothing  to  dread,  the  only  positive  advantage  they 
can  derive  from  this,  is,  to  enjoy  the  present  scene 
with  less  disturbance  from  within.  But  should  the 
truth  lie  on  the  side  of  sound  and  unprejudiced 
reason,  and  the  denunciations  of  religion  absolutely 
mean,  what  they  literally  express ;  in  other  words, 
should  such  Christians  be  mistaken  on  this  capital 
point,  surely  it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  that  their  case 
is  obviously  and  beyond  conception  deplorable.  All 
is  well  as  long  as  the  curtain  is  up,  and  the  puppet- 
show  of  life  goes  on.  But  when  the  rapid  represen- 
tation comes  to  a  close,  and  every  hope  of  a  longer 
respite  is  precluded,  let  them  believe  me,  that  things 
will  appear  in  a  very  different  light.  A  death-bed  is 
a  wonderful  reasoner.  Many  a  proud  infidel  hath  it 
humbled  and  refuted,  without  a  word,  who  but  a 
short  time  before,  would  have  defied  all  the  ability 
of  man  to  shake  the  foundation  of  his  system. 
Would  to  God  I  could  say,  that  that  great  and 
awful  moment  were  as  often  distinguished  by  the 
dew  of  repentance,  as  by  the  groan  of  despair. 

Let  these  reflections  give  weight  to  the  motive  I 
have  just  urged,  for  the  protection  of  these  children. 
The  state  to  which  they  would  be  infallibly  doomed, 
without  your  protection,  as  infallibly  conducts  them 


83 

to  the  most  hardened  and  incurable  guilt.     It  is  the 
character  of  deep  and  habitual  impurity,  whether  in 
woman  or  in  man,  to  discard   all  reflection ;  to  set 
the  observation,  the  censure,  the  abhorrence  of  the 
world  at  defiance ;  to  blind,  to  brutalize,  and  en* 
slave ;  to  stifle  every  cry  of  conscience,  extinguish 
every  gleam  of  reason,  defy  every  bolt  of  Heaven, 
and  often  impel  to  horrors  unknown  to  every  nature 
but  its  own.     The  very  Gospel  tells  you,  that  its 
escort  is  infernal;  being  invariably  accompanied  by 
seven  other  spirits,  scarce  inferior  to  itself;  that  is, 
in  a  word,  every  consideration  divine  and  human 
gives  way  before  this  vice  as  the  occasion  solicits. 
What  is  the  consequence  ?  You  know  it.     The  very 
efforts  you  make  in  the  reformation  of  abandoned 
women,  prove  your  sense  of  it.     Nothing,  ?tis  true, 
is  impossible  to  God  ;  could   his  grace  descend  into 
hell  itself,  it  would  be  sufficient  to  purify  it.     But, 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  his  interference,  or  without 
the  aid  of  human  mercy  to  raise  the  fallen,  the  ter- 
mination of  every  such  woman,  must,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  be  horrible  and  hopeless.     Setting 
all  other  motives  out  of  the  question,  this  alone  ought 
to  render  the  institution  before  you  immortal.     Shut 
the  arch  of  it,  my  brethren.     I  know  what  you  are 
capable  of.     You  see  by  the  notices  that  called  you 
together,   that  there  is    room  for    fifty   more  chil- 
dren.    I  remind  you  not  of  the  sum  required  for  the 
support  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  now  before  you. 
That   would   be   needless.      You   have   invariably 
proportioned  your  bounty  on  this  occasion  to  the 
number  of  objects.     I  would  urge,  great  as  it  is,  to 


84 

increase  that  number.  It  is  impossible  for  human 
feelings  to  witness  the  calamitous  complexion  of  the 
present  time,  without  doing  so.  Without  pressing 
you  this  day  to  all  that  is  godlike  in  charity,  I  am 
as  responsible  as  you  for  the  fate  of  all  such  crea- 
tures. Woe  unto  me,  were  even  one  excluded  from 
your  protection,  through  the  detect  of  zeal  and  fer- 
vour in  my  ministry.  Complete  your  work  I  I  know, 
I  repeat  what  you  are  capable  of.  Look  back  to 
the  period  when  this  institution  consisted  but  of  a 
handful  of  children.  Had  any  man  then  told  you, 
that  you  would  raise  it  to  what  it  now  is,  you  would 
have  received  the  idea  as  the  dream  of  extravagant 
enthusiasm.  You  knew  not  yourselves.  Every 
year  the  merits  of  the  object  led  you  insensibly  into 
greater  efforts.  Early  you  let  the  spirit  of  the  world 
in  your  hearts,  sink  lower  and  lower,  before  the 
superior  influence  of  God  and  humanity.  You  now 
look  with  astonishment,  with  pride,  with  delight,  on 
the  glorious  result.  Can  I  doubt,  therefore,  that 
you  are  made  of  materials  to  be  roused  to  the  highest 
pitch  by  an  unparalleled  crisis ;  that  while  your 
hands  and  hearts  are  open  out  of  this  place,  to  meet 
the  shocking  exigencies  of  the  poor  ;  while  applica- 
tion succeeds  application  at  your  doors,  and  each 
finds  you  equally  beneficent ;  can  L  doubt  that  you 
will  think  of  the  degree  to  which  such  objects  as 
these  have  increased  in  the  general  disaster?  Yes, 
my  brethren,  the  present  solicitations  for  admittance 
into  this  institution,  are  heart-breaking.  They  ex- 
ceed in  number  and  complexion  of  misery,  all  pre- 
cedent, all  credibility.     To  me,  as  the  long-known 


85 

advocate  of  it,  they  are  incessant.  I  see  creatures 
brought  before  me  every  hour,  that  would  move 
bowels  of  iron ;  brought  by  persons  who  have  no 
human  interest  in  them,  but  what  arises  from  irre- 
sistible compassion.  Whom  do  I  address  at  this 
moment  ?  Is  it  tjie  inhabitants  of  a  single  parish,  or 
the  greatest  portion  of  the  wealth,  the  beneficence, 
the  rank  of  the  Metropolis  ?  Is  it  possible,  that  I 
should  lay  such  circumstances  before  you  without 
effect?  !No.  My  soul  tells  me  you  will  feel  them 
as  you  ought.  And  as  separate  streams,  when  drawn 
to  a  common  centre,  become  mighty  and  majestic  in 
their  flow,  so,  under  God,  shall  the  redoubled  efforts 
of  every  individual  of  this  congregation,  in  a  case 
so  affecting,  when  united  into  one  mass,  present  to 
Him  and  to  the  world  a  new  prodigy  of  Christian 
charity. 

Now  to  God  the  Father,  &c. 


MM 


SERMON  IV. 


[In  Support  of  the  Female  Orphan  House.] 

Ephes.  vi.  4. 

Bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord. 


IT  has  long  been  the  most  earnest  desire  of  my 
heart,  to  see  the  education  of  destitute  children,  in 
this  country,  taken  up  with  a  spirit,  and  extended  to 
a  degree,  proportioned  to  the  idea  we  must  all  have 
formed  of  its  sacredness  and  importance.  It  is  im- 
possible, I  think,  that  any  man  capable  of  the  least 
reflection,  should  not  be  sensible,  that,  to  draw  an 
incorrupted  generation  from  the  evil  of  the  day, 
would  to  society  be  an  incalculable  blessing.  Nor 
can  we  be  ignorant,  that,  if  the  religion  of  Christ  has 
any  one  duty  more  imperious  than  another,  or  com- 
mon humanity  any  claim  on  our  hearts,  that  may  be 
deemed  paramount,  or  even  irresistible,  it  is  certainly 
this.  Very  numerous,  indeed,  have  the  occasions 
been,  on  which  it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  enforce 
these  truths  :  and,  though  I  confess  I  feel  both  pride 


88 

and  consolation  in  contemplating  even  the  slender 
benefits  that  have  ensued ;  yet  deeply,  at  the  same 
time,  do  I  regret,  that  the  consequences  naturally 
to  be  expected  from  insufficiency  of  attention  to  this 
great  concern,  are,  every  hour  we  exist,  more  and 
more  awfully  verified. 

I  fear,  my  friends,  we  need  not  go  far  to  discover 
the  true  source  of  our  torpor  and  indifference  in  this 
cause.  Had  we  more  of  fervent,  genuine  religion  in 
our  breasts,  it  would  not  have  been  thus  long  and 
shamefully  neglected.  But  the  truth  is,  that,  with 
the  exception  of  a  chosen  few,  we  have  universally- 
departed  from  the  letter  and  spirit  of  our  calling. 
We  have  sunk  a  religion,  destined  to  elevate  man  to 
the  sublimest  virtue,  into  a  system  of  vile  accommo- 
dation with  the  passions  and  interests  of  this  world. 
To  the  design  once  formed  of  extirpating  Christiani- 
ty by  violence  and  persecution,  has  succeeded  one 
more  likely  to  effect  that  purpose,  because  less  appa- 
rent. The  great  enemy  of  our  salvation  has  not 
ceased  to  combat.  He  has  merely  changed  his 
weapons. 

In  the  days  of  Christian  fervor  he  went  about 
'•'  like  a  roaring  lion,  seeking  whom  he  might  de- 
"  vour."  In  these  days  of  refinement  and  effemi- 
nacy, like  the  timid  serpent,  he  creeps,  and  gives 
death  under  flowers.  Violence  is  abandoned  as  a 
bad  system.  For,  contrary  to  his  hopes,  it  only 
tended  to  people  the  world  with  proselytes,  and  hea- 
ven with  martyrs.     To  seduction   and  insinuation 


89 

he  has  therefore  had  recourse.  Crimes  are  stripped 
of  their  natural  turpitude.  They  are  embellished 
and  adorned.  Our  reason  is  betrayed.  Our  senses 
are  fascinated.  He  has  left  us  the  external  exercise 
of  our  religion,  but  has  raised  altar  against  altar. 

What  is  the  consequence?  Why,  his  triumph  is 
nearly  complete.  The  mystery  of  iniquity  has 
nearly  absorbed  the  mystery  of  holiness !  What  the 
cruelty  of  tyrants  could  not  accomplish,  is  rapidly 
accomplishing  by  softer  means.  Never  did  the  earth 
contain  such  a  number  of  Christians  as  at  this  hour 
Never  did  it  contain  so  little  Christianity. 

Surely  then  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  that  it  is 
not  under  such  circumstances,  great  and  effectual 
means  will  ever  be  applied  to  regenerate  the  morals 
of  our  unhappy  people.  It  is  not  from  such  passions 
as  too  generally  enslave  us,  those  scourges  of  human 
society,  ambition  and  selfishness ;  not  from  a  sys- 
tem of  vanity,  the  most  excessive  and  puerile  ;  not 
from  luxury,  the  most  unmanly  and  sensual ;  not 
from  pride  the  most  unfounded  and  overbearing ;  not 
from  impurity,  as  cruel  in  its  pursuits  as  destructive 
in  its  consequences ;  not  from  pampered  idleness, 
basking  in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity,  and  oppres- 
sing that  soil  which  calls  aloud  for  active  and  use- 
ful citizens;  not  from  religion,  upheld,  as  a  learned 
Prelate  has  recently  and  justly  remarked,  in  state 
proclamations,  while  excluded  from  practice ;  not 
from  fashionable  infidelity,  reviling  what  it  is  incom- 
petent to  refute ;    not  from   the   very   ministry   of 


^ 


90 

God,  teeming  with  intruders,  a  trust  that  at -all  times, 
but  more  especially  in  the  present,  requires  almost 
the  zeal  and  labour  of  an  apostle. 

Surely,  I  repeat  it,  it  is  not  from  such  a  gulph  of 
degeneracy,  the  divine  flame  of  charity  will  ever 
arise  to  compass  mighty  things  in  the  cause  of  Hea- 
ven and  fellow  creatures  !  Familiarized  with  ini- 
quity ourselves,  how  shall  the  torrent  of  it  that  flows 
in  the  subordinate  classes  of  life  pierce  and  afflict 
our  hearts  ?  Prodigal  of  our  own  souls,  how  shall 
we  burn  for  the  salvation  of  others? 

No ;  it  is  a  forlorn  hope !  The  true  christian 
alone  is  heir  to  the  zeal  of  his  divine  Master.  Were 
it  necessary  to  lay  down  his  very  life  to  prevent  but 
a  single  crime,  or  save  a  single  soul,  the  ardent  lova 
of  God  and  his  neighbour  would  readily  determine 
him  to  the  sacrifice. 

Happy,  thrice  happy,  would  the  state  of  our  soci- 
ety be  at  this  day,  had  the  orders  I  now  address 
possessed  but  a  spark  of  that  heavenly  spirit! 
What  peace,  what  harmony,  what  order,  what  love 
and  union,  what  submission  to  authority  would  be 
diffused  over  the  face  of  this  unhappy  nation  ? 
Each  resigned  to  the  station  which  Providence  had 
assigned  him ;  exact  to  fulfil  its  obligations,  and 
proposing  nothing  to  himself  but  with  God  at  its 
head,  disposing  the  whole  by  his  wisdom,  animating 
it  with  his  spirit,  enriching  it  by  his  liberality,  sancti- 
fying it  by  his  grace,  supporting  it  by  his  power ! 


91 

At  the  view  of  such  a  blessed  scene,  who  would 
not  feel  himself  inclined  to  exclaim,  like  Balaam 
before  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  "  How  goodly  are 
"  thy  tents,  oh  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles,  oh  Israel  I" 
This  is  what  true  religion,  universally  known  and 
practised,  would  have  produced.  This  is  the  effect 
it  wrought  on  its  early  disciples,  that  singular  and 
extraordinary  description  of  men,  who  arose  all  at 
once  in  the  very  bosom  of  paganism — the  friends  of 
peace,  who  obeyed,  and  even  prayed  for  the  pros- 
perity of  their  persecutors,  and  were  as  much  dis- 
tinguished for  the  love  of  one  another,  as  for  the 
unequalled  purity  of  their  lives.  There  were  riches 
and  poverty  among  them,  and  yet  they  were  neither 
rich  nor  poor.  Love  alone  equalized  every  thing. 
They  had  but  one  universal  will,  the  will  of  God ; 
one  spirit,  the  spirit  of  God  ;  one  interest,  the  interest 
of  all.  Divine  operation  of  religion  !  what  are  now 
thy  substitutes  ?  Mutual  repulsion  among  Christians ; 
private  interest  almost  exclusively  pursued :  dis- 
guised enmities :  secret  envies :  perfidies  in  friend- 
ship :  antipathies  in  marriage  :  discord  in  families  : 
animosities  of  party  :  jealousies  of  profession  :  trea- 
sons against  the  state :  a  general  fermentation : 
hatred  rankling  within,  the  sword  unsheathed  with- 
out ;  a  nation,  forced  in  its  own  preservation,  to  arm 
chiefly  against  its  own  unnatural  children  :  citizens 
still  kept  together  by  their  wants,  divided  by  their 
passions :  exterior  courtesy,  no  sentiment  of  affec- 
tion :  protestations  that  cost  nothing,  no  real  ser 
vices  :  an  assemblage  of  men,  no  society  !  A  mclan- 


92 

eholy  picture  this,  no  doubt ;  but  with  you  it  lies  to 
say  whether  it  be  imaginary  or  not. 

Perhaps  you  may  allow  me  to  shew,  in  a  short 
digression,  that  if  our  insensibility  to  the  pressing 
claims  of  the  rising  generation  proceed  from  our 
corruption,  that  corruption  has  its  chief  source  in  the 
very  education  we  have  received.  Yes,  my  friends, 
if  the  people  are  victims,  because  absolutely  untu- 
tored ;  so  are  we,  because  the  stress  in  our  educa- 
tion is  not  laid  where  it  ought.  Nothing  indeed  is 
usually  omitted  that  can  fit  the  youth  of  both  sexes 
to  play  a  part  in  the  world ;  the  one  to  climb  by 
their  talents ;  the  other  to  triumph  in  the  wretched 
circles  of  vanity  by  the  grace  of  manners.  But  a 
deep  and  indelible  sense  of  their  duty  to  God,  a 
fixed  horror  of  vice,  and  noble  disdain  of  folly, 
where  is  the  parent  who  thinks  sufficiently  of  in- 
spiring ?  But  admitting  that  some  pains  are  employed 
on  this  head,  of  what  use  can  they  be,  if,  from  their 
infrequency  and  languor,  they  are  considered  by 
children  rather  as  a  debt  paid  to  custom  and  routine, 
than  a  thing  of  serious  and  awful  necessity?  How 
shall  the  superficial  tincture  of  religion  and  virtue 
bold  against  the  rising  passions  of  youth  ?  No ; 
when  the  season  of  their  hurricane  comes,  what  lies 
merely  on  the  surface  of  the  heart,  will  be  torn  up 
and  swept  away  like  chaff  before  the  winds.  No : 
if  impressions  penetrate  not  to  the  very  bottom  of  the 
soul,  are  not  united  with  our  very  being,  never 
shall  man  resist,  for  any  time,  the  power  of  the 
enemy  within,  or  of  the  world  without.    The  evidence 


$3 

of  this  is  on  every  side  of  us.  Besides,  of  what 
use  are  instructions,  even  assiduously  and  fervently 
conveyed,  without  unceasing  vigilance  to  cut  off  all 
danger  of  corruption  ?  We  know,  that  to  relax  in 
this  particular  but  a  moment,  is  sometimes  fatal. 
Remember  that  our  Saviour  scarce  slumbered  when 
the  tempest  arose  to  overwhelm  the  vessel  that  bore 
his  disciples.  Remember  the  counsel  of  the  Wise 
Man,  "  "Never  lose  sight  of  what  you  value,  and  arc 
i(  in  danger  of  losing."  Remember  the  fate  of  the 
unfortunate  Dinah,  ">  who  went  out  without  being 
"  accompanied."  What  tears  the  compliance  of  a 
moment  cost  the  afflicted  Jacob,  and  what  torrents 
of  blood  were  shed  to  repair  the  injury  he  received. 
Indefatigable  attention  then  to  this  point  is  indispen- 
sably necessary.  But  who,  at  this  day,  make  it  a 
rule  never  to  admit  their  children  to  improper  inter- 
course ?  How  often,  on  the  contrary,  are  they  per- 
mitted to  pass  warm  from  the  lesson  of  piety  and 
virtue  into  circles  of  pleasure  and  dissipation,  where 
every  thing  they  hear  and  see  tends  to  enervate  the 
mind  and  corrupt  the  heart  ?  How  often  are  innocent 
girls  matronized,  as  the  phrase  is,  by  women  of 
characters  worse  than  dubious  ;  as  if  the  rank  and 
distinction  of  such  conductors  could  be  considered 
as  a  shield  of  protection  against  the  contagion  of 
notorious  freedom  and  lubricity  of  manners  ?  It  will 
easily,  I  believe,  be  admitted,  that  the  world  pos- 
sesses the  secret  of  making  perfect  proselytes  to 
vice  without  giving  any  direct  lessons  on  the  subject  5 
and  that  many  a  youth  may  be  thought  a  saint  at 
borne,  who  is  known  among  his  associates  as  a  liber- 

M 


94 

tine  of  the  very  first  hope ;  and  who  secretly  laughs 
at  the  imbecility  of  his  parents,  who  could  rely  oil 
theory,  and  overlook  the  force  of  example. 

I  cannot  omit  reprobating  on  this  head  the  too 
familiar  intercourse  to  which  children  are  admitted 
with  menials.  For  to  say  nothing  of  the  coarse  and 
groveling  habits  they  must  consequently  imbibe; 
nothing  of  those  arrogant,  overbearing,  and  super- 
cilious notions  that  are  necessarily  contracted  from 
being  deified  and  fawned  on ;  the  great  danger  is, 
that  as  servants,  in  general,  have  not  been  blessed 
with  the  advantage  of  education,  and  are  under  no 
sort  of  restraint,  but  what  arises  merely  from  the 
dread  of  dismission,  they  will  often  utter  language, 
and  betray  principles,  that  sink  deep  into  the  recollec- 
tion of  young  minds,  and  naturally  produce  the  most 
deplorable  effects.  Nay,  we  need  not  be  told  that 
there  are  persons  in  this  order  of  life,  who  will  secret- 
ly flatter  the  passions  of  rising  youth,  and  even  found 
their  hopes  of  a  future  independence,  on  a  ready  ad- 
ministration to  the  vilest  appetites.  Many  a  man,  I 
fear,  in  a  very  different  class  from  that  I  speak  of, 
owes  his  advancement  ami  elevation  in  this  world, 
not  certainly  to  so  infernal  a  ministry,  but  to  that  easy 
and  conniving  kind  of  rule  which  a  youth  may  ex- 
perience in  a  state  of  pupilage. 

Besides  the  points  I  have  insisted  on,  I  would 
remind  parents,  how  infinite  almost  are  the  qualities 
necessary  to  succeed  in  seducing,  I  may  say,  the 
understanding  and  the  hearts  of  children,   to  the 


95 

knowledge  and  love  of  virtue.  There  should  be 
tenderness  to  engage  their  affection ;  bounty  to 
attract  their  confidence;  gravity  to  draw  their  res- 
pect ;  authority  to  hold  them  in  submission ;  affabi- 
lity to  render  their  dependence  amiable;  severity 
that  has  nothing  revolting;  compliance  that  has 
nothing  base ;  mildness  that  knows  how  to  forgive ; 
firmness  that  can  punish  and  repress ;  wisdom  that 
can  sometimes  dissemble,  and  seem  ignorant  of  what 
it  sees;  deep  attention  to  discover  their  ruling 
passions ;  attention,  if  possible,  still  more  deep,  to 
counteract  them,  and  yet  conceal  the  discovery ;  in 
fine,  almost  as  many  forms  of  proceeding  as  there 
are  children  to  educate  ;  for  as  every  plant  requires 
not  the  same  kind  of  culture ;  so,  what  would  be 
useful  in  forming  the  mind  of  one  child,  would  be 
dangerous,  or  even  fatal,  in  forming  that  of  another. 
But  where  are  the  parents  who  would  know  them- 
selves in  this  representation  ?  Sensible  they  may  be 
of  its  justice,  but  such  a  tax  on  their  time  and  atten- 
tion, is  found  incompatible  with  their  ordinary  pur- 
suits ;  incompatible  with  a  life  of  effeminacy  and 
indolence  ;  of  business  or  intrigue  ;  of  play  or  plea- 
sure ;  of  tranquillity  and  repose.  What  is  the  con- 
sequence? Why  in  the  little  they  may  do  to  forward 
this  great  work,  they  fall  into  a  thousand  errors"; 
being  directed  more  by  humour  and  impatience^ 
than  by  sound  and  serious  reflection. 

Some  are  even  brutal  to  excess  in  the  treatment 
of  their  children ;  converting  an  occupation  in  which 
tenderness  and  insinuation  should  take  the  lead,  into 


9b 

a  system  of  downright  persecution.  When  called 
on  to  reprehend,  they  do  it  in  words  of  wormwood 
and  gall.  When  forced  to  approve,  their  manner  is 
cold  and  discouraging.  They  neither  do  justice  to 
the  virtues,  nor  can  forgive  the  weakness  of  youth, 
JSTo  entreaties  can  mollify,  no  tears  disarm  them, 
Their  families  are  the  region  of  eternal  tempests, 
where  nothing  is  heard  hut  the  moans  of  the  oppres- 
sed, and  the  bellow  of  the  tyrant.  The  unhappy 
victims  may  be  truly  said,  to  feed  on  the  bread  of 
tears  and  wretchedness.  They  consider  their  pa- 
rents as  the  most  cruel  enemies ;  loathe  and  detest 
their  precepts  ;  and  never  can  be  induced  to  consider 
that  virtue  amiable,  which  is  recommended  in  accents 
of  terror,  and  enforced  by  unsupportable  authority. 

Hence  the  most  ardent  longing  for  emancipation,, 
Hence  do  the  youth  of  one  sex  plunge  early  and 
openly  into  vice,  more  perhaps  from  rage  against 
their  persecutors,  than  from  natural  inclination  ;  and 
those  of  the  other,  often  at  the  tenderest  age,  fly  into 
the  arms  of  the  first  man  who  otters  to  be  their  de- 
liverer ;  form  unequal  and  inglorious  matches ;  or 
become  victims  of  a  far  more  deplorable  misfortune* 

There  may  be,  however,  and  often  is,  a  defect  ia 
the  conduct  of  parents,  of  a  nature  the  very  opposite; 
namely,  that  of  loving  their  children  too  inucb,  or 
more  properly  speaking,  to  their  ruin.  "  He  that 
« sparcth  the  rod,"  saith  the  Wise  Man,  "  hateth 
*'  his  son :  but  he  that  loveth  him  chasteneth  him 
#  betimes."    Dreadful  are  the  consequences  of  that 


97 

blind  affection  which  will  see  no  fault  in  a  child,  and 
suffer  all  the  untoward  propensities  of  his  nature 
to  grow  up  and  strengthen  from  the  fear  of  afflicting 
thein  by  controul. 

It  is  not  uucommon  to  see  such  spoiled  children, 
if  I  may  use  a  received  expression,  treating  even 
their  too  indulgent  parents  with  habitual  insolence 
and  disrespect ;  starting  into  ungovernable  sallies  of 
rage  at  the  slightest  opposition  to  their  will ;  be- 
come absolute  pests,  not  only  in  their  own  families, 
but  wherever  they  are  admitted ;  and  betraying,  on 
all  occasions,  such  sinister  propensities  as  should 
make  parents  tremble  for  their  future  happiness.  a 

But  what  must  we  think,  when,  as  they  advance 
in  years,  their  vices  and  irregularities  are  overlooked 
from  the  same  principle  ?  When  parents  are  found 
to  treat  the  most  notorious  profligacy  with  unabated 
familiarity  and  affection  5  nay  frequently  listen  with 
smiles  and  complacency  to  the  history  of  the  most 
scandalous  freaks  and  excesses  ! 

Great  God,  with  what  justice  shall  such  children, 
at  the  close  of  an  unhappy  life,  descending  perhaps 
into  the  grave  covered  with  abominations,  and  des- 
pairing of  futurity,  pour  burning  curses  on  the  head 
of  those  who  might  have  prevented  so  dreadful  a 
catastrophe,  by  loving  them  as  they  ought  to  have 
loved  I 


98 

My  friends,  we  are  invested  by  nature  and  re- 
ligion with  a  kind  of  sovereign  authority  over  our 
children,  let  us  use  it  with  tender  reluctance  on 
all  occasions ;  but  when  necessary,  with  inflexible 
justice.  Nothing  should  stand  between  us  and  this 
most  sacred  duty. 

It  was  the  oblivion  of  it  that  drew  down  the  ven- 
geance of  God  on  the  head  of  Heli  and  his  whole 
family.  They  perished  in  one  hour !  Nor  can  we 
forget  that  David,  by  overlooking,  from  mistaken 
affection,  the  first  crime  of  his  son  Absalom,  soon 
found  him  an  usurper,  and  wanting  nothing  but  the 
occasion,  to  become  a  parricide !  Another  capital 
error,  to  which  parents  are  liable,  is,  not  so  much 
the  feeling,  as  the  betraying,  a  greater  regard  for  one 
child  than  another.  Did  such  a  distinction  arise 
from  a  difference  in  their  deserts,  it  might  be  jus- 
tified, as  going  to  promote  a  spirit  of  emulation  in 
good  conduct ;  but  founded,  generally,  on  pure  ca- 
price, or  some  quality  merely  extrinsic,  and  often  too 
in  favor  of  the  most  unworthy,  I  need  not  observe, 
that  it  is  as  opposite  to  reason,  as  it  is  irreconcilable 
with  the  principles  of  religion  and  the  impartiality 
of  nature ;  besides  that  it  invariably  goes  to  excite 
the  worst  passions  in  the  breasts  of  children.  For 
they  who  are  forced  into  the  shade,  delivered  over 
to  the  most  mortifying  neglect,  to  make  room  for  the 
monopoly  of  one,  will  feel  it  to  the  quick ;  will 
burn  with  implacable  hatred  and  resentment  against 
the  favourite ;  and  be  impelled  to  despise,  if  not 
detest  the  parent  who  is  capable  of  such  manifest  in* 


99 

justice.  Nor  is  it  out  of  experience  to  say,  that  a 
strong  and  bitter  recollection  of  that  injustice,  is 
sometimes  preserved  far  beyond  the  season  of  youth  $ 
and  that  parents  have  looked  in  vain  for  that  filial 
affection  and  duty  which  they  once  took  no  pains  to 
foment,  or  rather  laboured  indirectly  to  extinguish .- 

The  last  obstacle  to  success  in  this  cause,  and 
one  absolutely  insuperable,  is  the  want  of  edifying 
deportment  in  parents.  Where  this  is  wanting,  all 
other  efforts  are  but  solemn  mockery.  It  is  the 
strangest  abuse  of  common  sense,  to  suppose  that 
children  will  retain  lessons  of  religion  and  virtue, 
whatever  solemnity  may  be  used  to  infix  them,  when 
they  have  hourly  before  their  eyes  so  great  a  con- 
tradiction, as  a  dissipated  or  vicious  example  in 
the  very  person  of  their  instructor.  St.  Paul  has 
observed,  in  his  letter  to  Timothy,  that  a  minister  of 
religion  should  be  exempt  from  reproach ;  and  for 
this  obvious  reason,  because  no  circumstance  is  more 
necessary  to  give  effect  to  ministry.  But  if  we 
suppose  his  life  to  recoil  from  investigation,  or  in: 
other  words,  his  instructions  and  reprehensions  to 
blush  for  hi£  morals,  what  part  does  he  perform  but 
a  pompous  farce,  which  in  reality  has  nothing  serious 
save  the  deep  and  affecting  scandal  it  entails  on 
religion?  With  what  grace,  admonishes  the  same 
Apostle,  shall  he  inveigh  against  adulteries,  forni- 
cation, blasphemy,  irreligion,  or  any  other  crime,  if 
every  word  he  utters  bear  directly  against  himself? 
Or  admitting  that  he  takes  care  to  conceal  from  the 
knowledge  of  the  world;  the  whole  extent  of  his 


100 

un  worthiness,  from  what  source  is  he  to  draw  that 
force  and  fervour  so  necessary  to  impress  his  hearers, 
if  it  he  true  that  the  heart  alone  can  speak  to  the 
heart?  The  word  of  God  comes  then  degraded  and 
weakened  from  his  lips ;  and  not  this  only,  but  he 
renders  it  suspected,  and  consequently  unfruitful,  in 
the  mouth  of  better  men.  For  the  world,  to  justify 
itself,  will  affect  to  apprehend  the  same  vices  in  both, 
and -pronounce  with  little  difficulty  the  whole  function 
to  be  mere  art  and  imposture;  nor  has  it  a  more 
usual  appeal,  than  to  the  conduct  of  those  who  pre- 
sume to  condemn  it.  This  is  the  eternal  language 
of  all  libertines,  and  the  salt  of  all  their  satire 
against  religion  and  its  ministers. 

In  exactly  the  same  situation,  or  if  possible  more 
unproductive  of  fruit,  is  the  parent  who  takes  no 
care  to  edify  his  children.  A  debauched  father  may 
indeed  compose  a  serious  face,  and  speak  to  his  son 
in  sentences  on  his  duty  to  God,  and  the  debase- 
ment of  being  mastered  by  his  passions  ;  or  a  woman 
of  the  world  may  read,  for  mere  variety,  a  lecture 
to  her  daughter  on  the  advantages  of  modesty,  re- 
serve, and  retirement.  But  what  effect  will  either 
produce,  but  a  manifest  impatience  of,  or  a  suppres- 
sed contempt  for  such  barefaced  effrontery?  But 
again,  witli  what  indignation  shall  we  think  of  those 
who  use  no  effort  whatsoever,  to  weaken  the  effect 
of  their  conduct ;  but  train  up  their  children  openly 
and  directly  to  vice  and  irreligion ;  sporting  in  their 
presence  with  the  most  sacred  things;  holding  lan- 
guage avowedly  or  transparently  obscene :  pressing 


101 

en  their  hearts  a  most  irritable  sense  of  the  slightest 
injury  or  insult;  recommending,  nay,  consecrating 
the  sanguinary  rules  of  modern  honour ;  implanting 
an  ardent  thirst  of  riches  and  exclusive  ambition  of 
human  glory;  just  as  if  their  object  was  to  spare  the 
devil,  the  world,  and  the  flesh  the  trouble  of  sedu- 
cing them  at  a  future  day ;  as  if,  not  content  with 
being  personally  impious  and  abandoned,  they  would 
perpetuate  their  crimes  and  impiety  in  a  guilty  race; 
and,  from  the  bottom  of  the  tomb,  continue  to  insult 
heaven  and  earth  in  the  persons  of  their  children, 
when  no  longer  in  a  capacity  of  doing  so  themselves? 
If  sueh  parents  tremble  not  at  the  thoughts  of  thy 
vengeance,  O  just  and  righteous  God !    what  min- 
ister of  iniquity  can  have  cause   to  tremble?    Let 
those  who  are  parents  among  us  reflect  on  this  awful 
and  too  intelligible  sentence,  "their  blood  will  I 
"require  at  your  hands."     Their  blood  !  If  such  be 
the  language  of  God  himself,  dreadfully  forewarning 
them,  better,  far  better,  they  had  never  been  born, 
than  do  the  work  of  Satan  in  the  very  bosom  of 
their  families ;    and,    contrary  to  the   loud   cry  of 
nature,  deliberately  plunge  their  children  in  an  abyss 
temporal  and  everlasting. 

Let  mercy,  boundless  mercy,  at  length  arise  to 
that  friendless  generation  which  I  plead  for,  who 
have  none  but  us  to  help  them  in  the  ways  of  eternal 
life.  Never,  during  a  ministry  of  eleven  years, 
have  I  omitted,  in  a  single  instance,  to  speak  uf  that 
hour  that  might  woefully  enlighten  you  on  the  con- 
sequences  of  slumbering  in  this  cause* 

N 


102 

What  now  have  I  to  tell  you,  but  that  Heaven 
would  still  seem  to  leave  you  to  adopt  the  alternative 
between  its  judgments  and  your  duty.  Resolve,  then, 
and  execute  instantly,  "  most  instantly;"  let  us  cut 
off,  as  far  as  our  power  extends,  the  supply  of 
abomination  through  the  land.  Separate  the  unpol- 
luted child  from  the  unexampled  contagion  of  the 
day ;  and  resist  the  evil  that  already  exists,  by  the 
increasing  energy  of  every  Christian  virtue.  Let 
peace,  order,  and  regular  government  have  your 
steadiest  countenance  ;  they  are  fundamental  points 
of  our  holy  religion,  and  fountains  of  all  social  hap- 
piness. Be  not  deluded  by  the  specious  cry  of  bon- 
dage and  oppression  issuing  from  the  den  of  the 
murderer  and  anarchist,  and  industriously  kept  up 
by  inflammatory  publications,  and  too  active  in- 
cendiaries ;  but  oppose,  by  every  nerve  of  your 
strength,  a  most  outrageous  system  of  insubordina- 
tion and  crimes,  that  bids  fair  to  have  no  rival  but 
one,  in  the  history  of  the  whole  civilized  world ! 
Away  with  that  unworthy  spirit,  too  common  I  fear 
among  us,  which,  from  mere  motives  of  personal 
animosity  to  ruling  powers,  would  even  favour  the 
cause  of  treason  and  disaffection.  Oh  !  how  much 
has  the  man  who  rises  not  at  this  great  crisis  above 
groveling  considerations ;  who  sinks  not  the  little 
feeling  of  disappointed  hopes  or  unrequited  ser- 
vices, in  a  noble,  manly,  and  generous  zeal  for  the 
salvation  of  his  country ;  how  much,  I  say,  has  he 
to  learn  on  the  nature  of  true  glory  !  Let  the  atro- 
cious scenes  that  have  passed  in  another  nation,  in 
such  rapid  and  improving  succession,  and  which 


103 

rill  stain,  to  the  latest  period  of  time,  the  aimais  of 
tuman  nature;  let  them  teach  you  to  value  as  you 
ought,  the  constitution  with  which  Providence  has 
blessed  you :  for  be  assured,  whatever  its  infirmities 
may  be,  (and  from  what  system,  administered  by 
man,  can  infirmity  be  altogether  inseparable,)   we 
should  never  exchange  it  for  a  better,  or  exchange 
it  without  the  worst  of  calamities,  without  standing 
on  the  wreck  of  all  order,  and  a  foundation  of  blood. 
You  are  deceived,  if  you  imagine  that  the  discon- 
tented orders  of  your  community,  in  whose  hearts 
the  fear  of  God  hath  never  been  implanted,  have  any 
other  object  in  their  rage  for  innovation,  but  to  level 
every  thing  with  the  dust ;  confound  all  rights,  no 
matter  by  what  means,  and  riot  in  the  ruin.     The 
samples  of  this,  that  come  daily  before  you,  should 
warn  you  of  what  you  ought  to  expect  in  the  tremen- 
dous hour  of  national  convulsion.     I  know  that  the 
few  sentiments  I  have  just  uttered  are  not,  perhaps, 
exactly    such    as   prudeuce    would    have    directed, 
seeing  the   precipitate,   inexorable,  aud  remorseless 
passions  that  are  abroad.  But,  thank  God,  my  sense 
of  duty  is  superior  to  my  fears  ;  and  that  I  have  pro- 
moted the  true  interest  of  the  people,  too  faithfully 
and  too  long,  to  tarnish  the  zeal  I  still  anil  ever  will 
feel  for  them,  by  a  shameful  silence  on  their  present 
phrenzy  and  excesses.     May  that  great  Being,  who 
hath  said  through  the  voice  of  his  prophet,   "  that 
"  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  the  re- 
"  proach  of  any  people ;"  may  lie  give  us  to  see  a 
generation  arise  whose  virtues  shall  drown  the  recol- 
lection of  this  unhappy  day  5   increase  the  peace* 


104 

glory,  and,  prosperity  of  this  country  ;  and  individ- 
ual ly,  their  own  happiness  here  and  for  ever! 

I  now  turn  to  these  orphans.  Better  we  had  never 
opened  a  single  asylum  for  the  protection  of  inno- 
cence, than  inhumanly  dash  the  blessing  from  its  lips, 
and  cast  it  out  again  to  a  world  of  misery  and  vice. 
God  forbid  that  I  should  say,  that  you  met  not  the 
very  thought  with  abhorrence !  But  give  me  leave 
to  ask,  what  is  to  become  of  public  charities  if  mercy 
falls  short  ?  What  resource  have  they  in  such  a  case, 
but  to  lighten  a  burden  they  are  unequal  to  sup- 
port ?  Or,  who  will  tell  me,  that  such  another  shock 
as  this  great  institution  experienced  the  preceding 
year,  must  not  sink  it  forever? 

What,  my  friends,  shall  the  mercy  we  once  exhL 
bited,  serve  but  to  record  our  shame  and  inconsisten- 
cy? Shall  we  have  take;?  up  the  most  affecting 
object  with  fervor,  nay,  with  enthusiasm,  and  like 
children  surfeited  with  a  bauble,  rapidly  consign  it 
to  oblivion  and  neglect?  Is  this  religion,  or  is  it 
humanity?  How  truly,  indeed,  does  the  prophet 
describe  us,  when  he  speaks  of  those  hearts  of  wax* 
that  are  easily  moved,  but  with  difficulty  fixed;  or 
rather,  whose  distinguishing  mark  is  eternal  versa- 
tility !  How  terrible  is  the  sentence  which  Jesus 
Christ  has  pronounced  against  them,  "No  man 
u  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  looking 
"  back,  is  fit  for  the  kingdom  of  God."  He  does  not 
say,  that  he  loses  his  right  to  the  kingdom  of  God, 
or  is  in  danger  of  being  excluded  from  it.    But  that 


105 

the  particular  and  inherent  turn  of  his  mind  and 
heart  is  absolutely  incompatible  with  salvation. 
And  the  reason  is  clear.  Religion  necessarily  sup- 
poses a  character  capable  of  resolving,  and  adhering 
to  its  resolves ;  because,  virtue  is  invariably  repre- 
sented in  the  Holy  Writings  under  the  idea  of  Wis- 
dom ;  and  the  just,  under  that  of  a  rational  and 
prudent  man  ;  who  judges  soundly  of  things,  takes 
solid  measures,  and  is  superior  to  the  miserable 
weakness  of  commencing  a  building,  but  to  leave  it 
imperfect :  or  in  other  words,  a  disgraceful  monu- 
ment of  human  levity  and  inconstancy. 

Merciful  God !  Will  you  not  recollect  the  faith 
you  so  solemnly  pledged  to  those  unhappy  infants  ? 
will  you  not  recollect  how  dear  they  once  were  to 
you?  how  cherished,  how  patronized  by  all  the 
virtue,  wealth,  and  rank  of  the  nation  ?  What  can 
have  happened  to  estrange  you  from  them,  if  it 
be  not  a  crime  to  do  honour  to  your  protection,  and 
present  a  spectacle  at  this  moment,  as  glorious  to 
religion  as  it  is  affecting  to  the  heart  ? 

Will  you  not  recollect,  that  their  case  is  peculiar? 
that  of  all  destitute  objects,  they  are  eminently  the 
most  so  ?  fatherless,  motherless,  without  one  being, 
perhaps,  on  the  wide  earth  to  shed  a  tear  for  their 
misfortunes,  should  it  be  theirs  to  find  themselves 
abandoned  ?  Will  you  hear  that  sacred  voice,  which 
has  told  you,  that,  "  to  visit  the  fatherless  in  their 
"  affliction;  is  pure  and  undeiiled  religion  ?" 


106 

Have  you  yet  to  learn,  that  the  tender  commisse- 
ration  of  God  was  from  the  beginning,  peculiar- 
ly directed  to  this  hapless  and  unprotected  race ; 
that  the  Israelites  were  expressly  commanded  to 
consider  orphans  in  the  immediate  relation  of  bro- 
thers ;  even  to  shelter  them  under  their  roof,  and 
feed  them  at  their  board  ?  No,  never !  never  can 
you  deliberately  cast  them  from  you,  while  there  is 
a  spark  of  religion  or  humanity  remaining  in  your 
souls ! 

Their  sex  too  !  On  this  consideration  I  shall  not 
dwell.  I  believe  there  is  not  a  single  calamity,  of 
whatever  nature  it  may  be,  to  which  unprotected  fe- 
males are  liable,  or  a  single  blessing,  resulting 
either  to  the  community,  or  themselves,  from  their 
protection,  that  I  have  not,  on  various  occasions,  laid 
before  you  to  the  utmost  of  my  ability. 

You  have,  at  this  moment,  in  this  city,  three  es- 
tablishments for  the  reformation  of  abandoned 
women.  And,  if  it  be  mercy,  nay,  superior  mercy, 
to  favour  that  reformation,  I  leave  it  to  your  own 
hearts,  candidly  and  impartially  to  pronounce  on 
that  feeling,  which,  instead  of  meeting  a  public  and 
enormous  evil,  where  it  ought  chiefly  to  be  met ; 
instead  of  opening  the  gates  of  an  institution  like 
this,  would,  on  the  contrary,  spurn  unpolluted  and 
imploring  creatures  from  our  very  knees,  and 
plunge  them  into  a  gulph,  which  too  many  of  you,  to 
my  certain  knowledge,  consider  as  hopeless. 


107 

Fair  as  the  occasion  may  be,  in  this  place,  of  in- 
teresting your  passions,  I  will  not  embrace  it.  I 
would  leave  you  the  merit  of  a  free  and  deliberate 
sacrifice  to  your  duty.  I  would  not  have  you  to  do 
at  this  hour,  what  you  would  not  do  at  the  next,  and 
the  next.  If  sober  and  dispassionate  reflection  pro- 
duce not  the  eflect  I  desire  ;  then,  give  the  last  blow 
to  this  godlike  charity.  You  have  shaken  it  already. 
Let  it  sink.  Let  its  inmates  go  forth  into  a  world  of 
iniquity  and  woe  !  They  are  not  yet  without  hope. 
They  have  still  the  great  Father  of  the  fatherless 
to  supply  your  place ;  to  shield  them  from  the  ap- 
proaches of  guilt,  and  feed  them  as  he  feeds  the 
raven  of  the  air. 

Alas,  my  friends,  I  had  forgot  that  his  ways  are 
inscrutable  !  Who  can  answer  for  his  special  inter- 
ference even  here  ?  They  may  fall,  as  thousands  of 
deserted  creatures  have  fallen  before  them.  Those 
forms  you  now  behold,  may  be  blasted  with  loath- 
someness and  disease  ;  tha$  spotless  purity  be  trans- 
formed into  shameless  and  incorrigible  vice ;  those 
humble  comforts  into  nakedness  and  famine,  and  all 
the  varieties  of  human  wretchedness. 


Candidates  at  this  moment  for  a  career  of 
and  blessed  futurity,  they  may  live  but  to  curse  the 
hour  they  were  born,  through  time  and  eternity. 
Such  is  the  doom  that  too  possibly  may  await  them. 
Can  you  think  of  consigning  them  to  it  ?  Can  you 
look  up  without  trembling,  or  without  a  tear  ? 


108 

I  need  press  you  no  more.  I,  at  least,  shall  be 
guiltless  of  their  blood.  Deal  the  point  with  your 
God  !  you  are  before  him  !  he  sees  you !  he  will 
judge  you  this  hour,  as  he  will  judge  you  for  ever  I 
I  have  the  authority  of  his  word  for  saying  it :  for 
saying,  that  vain  is  our  hope  of  mercy,  should  we 
appear  before  his  awful  tribunal  chargeable  with  the 
perdition  of  any  human  creature. 

Oh  !  my  friends,  I  recollect  days  when  the  cause 
I  now  plead  could  stir  up  mercy  in  glorious  profu- 
sion. But,  like  a  tale  too  often  told,  we  hear  the 
persevering  appeal  to  us  with  increased  indifference; 
the  attraction  of  novelty  is  gone.  The  world  has 
resumed  its  ascendency.  We  resemble  the  unsteady 
Israelites,  who  bowed  and  adored  when  they  first 
saw  that  resplendent  column  of  fire  that  led  them  by 
night  through  an  untrodden  wilderness,  but  relapsed 
again  into  their  former  indocility,  as  soon  as  the 
august  spectacle  became  familiar  to  their  eyes. 

I  trust,  however,  that  this  day  will  evince  that  we 
can  be  ourselves  again.  Little  passions  may  have 
their  influence.  They  sometimes  steal  on  the  noblest 
dispositions.  But,  where  a  principle  of  true  great- 
ness exists,  a  moment  of  crisis  will  infallibly  call 
it  forth.  And,  from  the  experience  I  have  had  of 
you,  I  do  boldly  affirm,  that  you  were  not  born  to 
be  moderately  affected,  when  the  cry  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  perishing  infants  resounds  in  your 
ears. 


109 

I  leave  you  then  to  be  directed  by  that  spirit^ 
which  I  trust  is  awakened  in  you.  \oQ  know  liie 
too  critical  situation  in  which  they  stand.  1  have 
already,  I  believe,  stated,  that  the  result  of  their  last 
appeal  to  the  public  was  unequal  to  the  support  of 
one-fourth  of  their  number.  I  need  not  staie,  that 
the  result  of  the  present  appeal  must  be  every  way 
worthy  of  you,  or  their  destiny  is  decided.  What 
that  destiny  would  be  I  have  faintly  sketched.  Of 
these  most  wretched  creatures,  my  friends,  I  had  the 
happiness  of  being  the  first  advocate.  May  Heaven 
avert,  that  I  should  know  the  inexpressible  misery 
of  being  their  last ! 

You  ask,  and  the  question  is  natural  enough,  how> 
with  a  fund  so  far  short,  they  could  have  been  kept 
together  to  this  day?  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  inform 
you.  I  wish,  for  the  honour  of  human  nature,  I  was. 
You  would  then  discover, what  astonishing  sacrifices 
souls  truly  christian  and  compassionate  are  capable 
of.  So  ardent  is  the  interest  I  take  in  this  cause> 
that  I  am  at  a  loss  to  determine  what  sentence  shall 
be  my  last. 

Oh  !  my  friends,  did  any  of  you  stand  this  mo- 
ment  in  my  place,  and  plead  for  children  whom  his 
own  eyes  had  seen  taken  from  misery  the  most  appal- 
ling, of  whose  present  happiness  and  progress  in 
every  virtue  he  was  the  frequent  witness,  whom  the 
force  of  habit  taught  him  tenderly  to  love,  and  who 
looked  up  to  him  as  a  protector  and  a  father ;  yes,  he 


o 


110 

might  be  tempted,  as  1  am,  to  encroach  on  the  pa- 
tience and  indulgence  of  his  hearers. 

But  I  have  done.  Most  fervently  do  I  implore 
you  not  to  suffer  this  first  of  institutions  to  fall. 
Save  it  by  one  noble  exertion  !  You  live  in  times 
when  splendid  examples,  in  support  of  religion  and 
morals,  are  the  supreme  duty  of  every  Christian 
and  citizen.  You  live  in  times  when  the  human 
character,  I  may  so  say,  is  universally  on  the  stretch; 
and,  according  to  its  bent,  will  naturally  be  distin- 
guished by  great  virtues  or  great  crimes. 

Should  any  persons  have  come  hither  unacquain- 
ted with  the  pressing  necessity  of  the  case,  and 
therefore,  possibly,  unprovided  to  meet  it  to  the  ex- 
tent of  their  wishes :  Go,  I  would  say  to  them,  and 
instantly  apply  the  remedy.  Go  into  the  vestry  of 
this  church  and  put  down  your  names  for  that  in- 
crease of  mercy  which  God  has  inspired;  and  carry 
home  the  precious  consolation  of  having  formed  an 
immediate  opportunity  of  doing  what  your  feelings 
and  a  sense  of  duty  suggest. 

Should  any  others  know  the  practice  of  contribu- 
t  ting  on  these  occasions  to  a  certain  amount,  and  no 
more :  to  them  likewise  I  say,  Is  it  possible  that 
you  can  be  thus  masters  of  your  hearts  ?  Has  not 
true  sensibility  its  sullies  and  excesses?  And  are 
there  not  calls  so  imperious,  miseries  so  touching, 
that  to  be  directed   by  a  given  rule  in  their  relief, 


Ill 

would  seem  beyond  the  power  of  the  least  impreg* 
sible  natures? 

To  all  do  I  say,  be  merciful !  Ob  !  be  merciful 
according  to  the  measute  of  the  occasion.  Act  at 
this  instant  as  you  would  act  were  you  certain  that 
this  very  night  your  soul  would  be  demanded  of 
you.  Act  as  you  would  act  did  the  Saviour  of 
these  orphans  stand  visible  by  their  side  ;  reminding 
you  that  his  blood  was  shed  for  them  as  well  as  you, 
and  imploring  you  with  his  own  lips  not  to  render 
it  unfruitful.  Can  I  dismiss  a  Christian  assembly 
with  a  consideration  more  awful ! 

And  now  to  God  the  Father,  &c« 


SERMON  V. 


[For  the  Female  Orphan  House."] 

St.  John  xiii.  34?. 

A  new  commandment  I  give  unto  you,  that  you  love 
one  another. 

WHATEVER  difficulty  I  may  feel  in  attempt- 
ing  to  vary  the  ground  of  appeal  to  the  charity  of 
Christians,  it  is  more  than  compensated  by  the  hope 
of  being  useful  to  the  cause  of  society  and  my  fel- 
low creatures.  Warmed  by  this  consideration,  I 
lose  the  recollection  of  a  wornout  subject,  and  come 
before  you  with  the  confidence  of  a  man,  who  knows 
"  the  race  is  not  always  to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to 
the  strong  ;"  but  that  God  can  make  use  of  the 
weakest  instruments,  to  execute  his  designs  of  grace 
and  mercy. 

Nor  am  I  a  little  supported  by  the  reflection,  that 
the  manifestly  increased  respect  for  religion  and  its 
duties,  goes  to  supersede,  on  these  occasions,  the 
necessity  of  laborious  efforts  to  engage  the  passions. 


114 

Before  the  ministry  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  th< 
world  was  a  stranger  to  the  principle  of  true  bene 
volence.  Philosophy  gave  pompous  precepts  tha 
astonished  the  reason,  but  reached  not  the  heart 
Amidst  the  refined  and  ostentatious  lessons  of  the 
sage  to  explain  the  secret  of  human  happiness,  mar 
still  remained  a  prey  to  himself,  that  is,  to  his  worsi 
passions.  The  immense  diversity  of  superstitious 
manners  and  interests,  had  nearly  diversified  the 
same  nature,  and  left  little  to  prove  the  similarity, 
but  the  common  stamp  of  humanity. 

To  peruse  the  records  of  these  periods,  one  would 
think,  that  men  owed  their  being  to  different  ^nd 
irreconcileable  creators,  who  had  placed  them  here 
below,  to  glut  their  animosities  by  all  the  various 
horrors  of  endless  war  and  extermination.  All  the 
crimes  and  ravages  of  ambition  found  an  apology  in 
the  pursuit  of  glory  ;  and  the  bitterest  indulgence  ol 
private  vengeance  was  coloured  with  the  name  oi 
public  justice.  One  successful  villain  or  another 
became  the  hero  of  the  day.  And  millions  of  human 
victims  often  paved  the  way  for  the  parade  of  a 
triumph,  and  short-lived  possession  of  pre-eminence 
and  power. 

Such  was,  in  a  few  words,  the  afflicted  state  of 
the  world,  when  a  divine  and  benevolent  doctrine 
presented  a  remedy  to  its  misfortunes.  Alas,  too 
few  and  rapid  were  the  golden  days  of  its  influence  ! 
It  would  be  foreigu  from  my  purpose,  it  would  be  a 
melancholy  task,  a9  well  as  too  extensive  for  a  dis- 


115 

course  of  this  nature,  to  trace  the  early  and  various 
departure  of  Christian  nations  from  the  great  law  of 
peace,  love,  and  union  between  men :  and  equally 
so,  to  mark  all  the  passions  that  infringe  on  virtues 
that  should  flow  from  that  godlike  precept,  in  the 
private  intercourse  of  life.  I  shall,  therefore,  con- 
fine myself  to  the  influence  it  ought  to  have,  in  two 
points  that  nearly  concern  us.  First,  in  inspiring  a 
feeling  of  true  brotherhood  between  Christians  of 
every  religious  denomination.  And  secondly,  in 
peculiarly  disposing  our  hearts  to  the  exercise  of 
mercy. 

I  can  conceive,  my  brethren,  that  Christians,  even 
in  the  face  of  an  imperious  obligation  to  love  one 
another,  may  yet  sometimes  be  unhappily  divided 
by  their  interests  or  passions ;  that  a  sense  of  injury 
or  insult  may  supersede  the  nobler  feeling  of  for- 
bearance ;  that  the  spirit  of  selfishness  may  steel 
the  heart  against  the  claims  of  humanity ;  or  the 
stings  of  envy  lead  to  the  baseness  that  would  un- 
dervalue the  merit,  or  to  the  calumny  that  would 
ruin  the  reputation  of  another. 

But  of  all  sources  of  disunion  between  Christians, 
it  appears  incomprehensible  to  reason,  as  it  certainly 
is  afflicting  to  the  heart  of  benevolence,  that  such  an 
effect  should  ensue,  and  have  ensued  in  all  its  bit- 
terness, from  mere  difference  of  opinion,  on  poiuts 
of  doctrine  as  unconnected  with  the  fundamentals  of 
that  religion,  as  the  variety  of  speculations  that  have 


11G 

{alien  place,  on  the  moral  and  natural  evils  of  the 
world,  are  with  the  existence  of  a  God. 

I  open  the  Gospel.  I  see  every  thing  to  condemn, 
nothing  to  sanction  this  unhappy  perversion  of  its 
spirit.  I  see  living  Benevolence  uniting  the  Jew 
and  the  Gentile,  annihilating  the  distinction  of 
Greek  and  Barbarian,  and  delivering  up  to  the  ex- 
ecration of  the  head  and  the  heart,  every  prejudice 
and  passion  that  stood  in  the  way  of  general  union 
and  felicity. 

I  see  it  pointing  out  to  man  the  greatness  of  his 
origin  and  distinction ;  the  dangers  of  worldly 
prosperity,  the  utility  of  afflictions,  the  merit  of  sub- 
mission and  patience,  the  necessity  of  rigorous  pri- 
vations ;  and  thus  kindling  in  his  soul  the  glorious 
ambition  of  an  imperishable  good.  I  see  it  uniting 
him  to  his  fellow,  by  one  common  worship  and  one 
common  hope ;  and  moulding  all  the  people  of  the 
earth  into  the  nature  of  one  family,  and  that  family 
into  one  heart. 

I  see  all  this  ;  but  not  a  trace  of  countenance  to 
intemperate  and  uncharitable  zeal,  even  in  support 
of  essential  truths.  Witness  the  instant  and  indig- 
nant rebuke  of  that  sanguinary  and  intolerant  spirit 
in  which  all  the  Jew  appeared,  manifested  by  Christ, 
against  the  wretched  inhabitants  of  an  unbelieving 
village.  Witness  his  tender  and  indefatigable  effort 
to  remove  the  prejudice  of  the  woman  of  Samaria. 
"  How  is  it  that  thou  who  art  a  Jew,  can  ask  drink 


117 

"  from  me  vvlio  am  a  woman  of  Samaria  ?  for  the 
"Jews  have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans." 
How  he  accommodated  himself  to  that  prejudice,  the 
better  to  remove  it ;  spoke  the  very  language  of  her 
errors,  in  search  of  an  occasion  to  insinuate  truth ; 
and  patiently  kept  back  the  exposition  of  her  un- 
happy state,  lest  her  heart  should  revolt  against  the 
hand  that  was  to  heal  her. 

Through  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry,  to 
require  a  belief  in  the  sublime  and  abstruse  prin- 
ciples of  the  religion  he  came  to  establish,  was  a 
secondary  object.  To  propagate  a  benevolent  spirit, 
and  mend  the  human  heart,  was  evidently  the  first. 
If  Jesus  Christ  were  any  thing,  he  was  eminently  the 
preacher  of  morality.  The  whole  of  that  truly  di- 
vine discourse  which  he  delivered  on  the  mount, 
went  exclusively  to  that  end.  There  was  nothing 
in  it  of  a  speculative  nature ;  nothing  that  was  not 
immediately  designed  to  soften  and  purify  the  con- 
duct, in  every  relation  of  life.  "  Blessed  are  the 
H  peace-makers,  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children 
"of  God."  "Blessed  the  merciful,  for  they  shall 
"  obtain  mercy."  "  Blessed  the  meek,  the  poor  in 
"  spirit,  pure  of  heart ;  blessed  all  who  hunger  and 
"  thirst  after  righteousness."  It  is  the  simple,  but 
fervent  eulogy  of  every  relative  virtue,  and  every 
bond  of  blissful  intercourse  between  men. 

His  Apostles  inherited  his  wisdom  and  his  heart. 
We  know  the  marked  solicitude  of  St.  Paul  to  re- 
move the  seed  of  disunion,  expressed  in  his  letters 

r 


*«*>*        '  118 

to  Titus.  "This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  these 
"  things  I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly,  that  thej 
"who  have  believed  be  careful  to  maintain  good 
"  works,  for  these  are  profitable  ;  but  avoid  foolish 
"  questions  and  contentions  about  the  law,  for  they 
"are  unprofitable  and  vain."  And,  I  am  sure, 
whoever  has  a  soul  capable  of  being  impressed  by 
language,  must  conceive  what  true  Christian  benevo- 
lence is,  from  a  passage  of  the  same  Apostle,  which, 
though  familiar  to  every  ear,  and  therefore  less 
liable  to  strike,  yet  equals  perhaps,  in  point  oi 
strength,  any  thing  recorded  in  the  annals  of  humaH 
eloquence. 

"  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and 
"  angels,  and  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  under - 
"  standing  of  all  mystery  ;  and  have  all  faith  so  thai 
"I  could  remove  mountains,  and  bestow  all  my 
"  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  give  my  very  body  tc 
"  be  burned,  and  yet  with  all  these  have  not  charity, 
"  I  am  nothing  more  than  a  piece  of  sounding  brass 
"  or  a  tinkling  cymbal."  That  is,  in  plain  words, 
whoever  is  a  stranger  to  the  ardent  love  of  his 
neighbour  and  of  mankind,  is  still  ignorant  of  every 
thing  purely  evangelical,  and  for  what  end  it  was 
that  Christ  lived  and  died. 

And  when  St.  John,  the  peculiarly  beloved  Apos- 
tle of  Christ,  was  reproached  by  Ins  disciples  for 
constantly  preaching  on  this  subject,  or  bringing 
round,  at  least,  his  instructions  to  this  one  object, 
let  us  recollect  his  memorable  answer,  "  Because  it 


119 

"  is  the  precept  of  our  Master,  and  whoever  keeps 
"it,  he  shall  be  found  perfect  before  God." 

From  all  therefore  that  has  been  said,  it  appears, 
how  perfective  of  human  nature  and  human  happi- 
ness, that  system  is,  which,  even  in  the  face  of  an 
enemy,  observes  a  brother ;  which  is  oue  continued 
line  of  exhortation  to  unbounded  benevolence,  and 
whose  illustrious  fouuder  has  declared,  that  its  pro- 
fessors should  be  known  and  immortalized  by  that 
one  sentiment  alone:  thus,  pointing  out  the  means 
of  beginning  our  heaven  on  earth,  and  antedating 
here  below  the  joys  and  tranquillity  of  the  blessed. 

And  yet  it  is  horrible  to  reflect,  that  instead  of 
answering  that  happy  end,  it  has,  by  a  strange  and 
unnatural  perversion  of  things,  become  itself,  from 
the  day  on  which  Constantine  ascended  the  throne 
of  the  Caesars,  to  that  in  which  we  live  and  breathe, 
the  very  soiirce  of  implacable  jars,  and  led  to  scenes 
at  which  every  nerve  of  humanity  trembles.  And 
this,  merely  to  vindicate  and  do  honour  (an  imagi- 
nation which  the  devil  alone  could  suggest,)  to  par- 
ticular tenets  of  faith.  Yes !  Christians  retaliating 
on  each  other  by  turns,  every  human  calamity,  pil- 
laging towns,  depopulating  happy  and  fertile  coun- 
tries, massacreing,  with  unsparing  rage,  even  the 
helpless  infant,  and  the  tender  sex,  without  any 
motive,  without  any  spur,  but  miserable  and  furious 
attachment  to  speculations  undeterminable  without 
a  new  revelation  from  heaven,  and  yet  which  each 


120 

were  blind  enough  to  conceive  as  essential  constituents 
of  Christianity. 

I  know  nothing  essential  to  the  creed  of  a  Christian 
but  these — belief  in  the  being,  attributes,  govern- 
ment, trinity  and  unity,  of  God  ;  that  he  is  the  author 
of  all  nature,  -and  fountain  of  all  our  blessings  ;  that 
his  providence  is  universal  as  the  light ;  that  we  are 
responsible  creatures,  destined  for  a  state  of  felicity 
or  misery  everlasting ;  that  righteousness  of  course 
is  indispensible  to  our  salvation ;  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  assists  our  infirmity  ;  that  Jesus  Christ  is  our 
redeemer,  mediator,  advocate  and  judge ;  and  that 
under  the  title  of  his  infinite  merits  we  are  all  pur- 
suing the  same  destination  and  felicity. 

Every  other  point  is,  comparatively,  frivolous  and 
indifferent,  and  which-ever  we  embrace  or  reject, 
according  to  the  result  of  our  inquiry  and  judgment, 
can  neither  add  to  nor  diminish  our  right  to  the  name 
of  a  Christian,  or  any  way  affect  our  pretensions  to 
the  favour  of  God.  And,  what  good  has  ever  arisen 
from  annexing  imaginary  importance  to  any  thing 
in  which  all  Christians  are  not  agreed  ?  We  are  sure 
of  the  bloody  and  proscribing  spirit  which  such  a 
libel  on  right  reason  and  true  religion  has  engen- 
dered, sure  of  the  horrid  and  unparalleled  evils  it  has 
produced  !  But  where  are  the  benefits  ?  Has  it  cast 
one  feather  into  the  scale  of  human  virtue  or  human 
happiness  ?  Has  it  been  found  that  any  one  denomi- 
nation of  Christians  has  universally  carried  the  palm 
of  uprightness  and  pure  morality?  Is  it  not  clear 


121 

that  there  are,  and  ever  have  been,  examples  of 
eminent  worth  and  eminent  depravity  in  all  ? 

Perish  then  the  principle  that  opposes  the  natural 
tendency  of  man  to  man,  and  has  deluged  the  old 
and  the  new  world  with  crimes  and  calamities.  I 
draw  a  veil  over  our  own  experience.  It  is,  alas, 
too  easy  at  this  day,  even  with  the  most  benevolent 
intention  of  healing  and  doing  good,  to  incur  the 
charge  of  the  very  principle  I  have  now  deplored 
and  condemned.  For  myself  I  will  say,  for  you  my 
hearers,  for  the  truly  enlightened  of  every  sect,  that 
I  trust  there  lives  not  one  spark  of  it  in  any  corner 
of  our  souls  ;  and  that  there  is  not  any  human  crea- 
ture in  the  wide  lap  of  earth  in  whose  face  we  should 
not  read  the  clearest  title  to  our  best  love  and  ser- 
vice. 

Still  never,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert  it,  did  the 
day  exist,  when,  for  the  honour  of  a  divine  religion, 
and  the  welfare  of  human  creatures,  it  was  more 
necessary  to  unite  in  tearing  up  the  old  and  baneful 
root  of  bitterness,  and  impressing  deeply  on  the 
minds  of  the  ignorant,  the  great  command  of  love, 
peace,  and  union,  between  all  Christians  and  all 
men. 

Happy  had  it  been  for  this  small,  but  charming 
portion  of  the  earth,  had  care  been  early  taken,  to 
direct  the  attention  of  a  naturally  open,  generous, 
and  warm-hearted  race,  as  the  people  of  this  country 
have  been  justly  and  emphatically  called  5  not  to 


122 

tbe  miserable  jealousy  of  matters  that  are  the  dis- 
covery of  man,  but  to  the  great  social  duties  of  that 
system  which  is  the  revelation  of  God. 

A  good  and  benevolent  life  is  the  sum  and  sub- 
stance of  it.  And  the  only  right  preparation  we 
can  make  for  an  happy  entrance  into  that  blessed 
region,  where  sin  and  sorrow,  strife  and  discord 
shall  never  enter.  And  much  more  useful  and  glo- 
rious would  I  deem  it  to  utter  even  one  clumsy  sen- 
tence in  support  of  that  vital  object,  than  be  the  author 
of  all  the  musty  folios  the  groaning  shelves  of  po- 
lemic divinity  ever  bore. 

"  A  new  command  I  give  unto  you  that  you  love 
"  one  another." 

I  have  endeavoured  to  shew  the  influence  this 
divine  precept  ought  to  have  in  conciliating  Chris- 
tians of  every  religious  communion.  It  remains 
to  consider  it  as  the  most  powerful  incentive  to 
mercy.  To  commiserate  and  relieve  the  miserable 
is  the  law  of  reason  and  nature,  as  well  as  the  re- 
sult of  divine  and  benevolent  doctrine.  Man,  formed 
to  the  resemblance  of  the  deity,  was  originally  pla- 
ced on  this  earth  to  enjoy  and  divide  its  benefits 
with  equal  wants  and  equal  rights  to  the  same  re- 
sources. 

The  universe  was  a  vast  temple,  in  which  the 
great  author  of  nature  struck  the  eyes  of  his  crea- 
tures under  the  symbols  of  various  beneficence.  A 
sense  of  gratitude  erected  altars,  but  the  blood  of 


123 

animals  stained  them  not.     The  offering  was  more 
noble,  that  of  virtuous  and  acknowledging  hearts. 

But  this  happy  state  was  soon  overturned  by  the 
violence  of  human  passions.  It  was  incompatible 
with  that  growing  propensity  to  injustice,  that  fol- 
lowed the  disorder  of  our  nature.  The  wants  of 
imagination  gave  rise  to  immensity  of  desires. 
Force,  goaded,  and  instructed  by  selfishness,  pro- 
duced the  crime  of  usurpation.  The  feeble  were 
oppressed,  and  a  large  portion  of  mankind  handed 
over  to  the  care  of  a  just  and  merciful  providence. 
Here  have  we,  my  brethren,  if  I  may  use  the  ex- 
pression, the  ancestry  of  human  misery,  and  the 
foundation  of  that  principle  which  the  world  knows 
by  the  name  of  Humanity ;  a  principle  resting  on 
the  eternal  law  of  reason  and  justice. 

I  need  not  observe  to  you,  that  horrible  would  be 
the  perversion  of  both,  were  men  capable  of  sup- 
posing, that  all  the  benefits  of  this  earth  belong  of 
right  to  the  happier  few,  without  an  inviolable  ob- 
ligation of  supplying  to  the  utmost,  the  necessities 
of  the  unfortunate  and  needy  ;  that  the  luxury  of  a 
single  man  should  absorb  the  subsistence  of  thou- 
sands ;  that  all  the  productions  of  nature  and  indus- 
try be  collected  to  pamper  sensuality,  and  rock  the 
luxurious  drone,  while  multitudes,  of  a  class  the. 
most  useful  and  laborious,  should  know  the  God  of 
Justice  only  by  the  intolerable  pressure  of  his  hand. 
We  are,  therefore,  clearly  appointed  by  him  to 
explain  the  mystery  of  his  ways  to  man,  by  becoming 


124 

ministers  of  consolation  to  the  less  favoured,  ren- 
dering our  abundance  a  sure  and  unerring  resource 
to  their  necessities,  and  thus  diminishing,  as  far  as 
in  us  lies,  the  immeasurable  distance  between  misery 
and  affluence  which  otherwise  too  naturally  begets 
in  the  neglected  sufferers  murmurs  against  heaven, 
and  rage  against  the  prosperous. 

This  is  what  reason  alone  points  out,  and  for 
which  we  should  be  strictly  responsible,  though 
Christianity  were  a  fable,  or  its  founder  an  impostor. 
Happy  is  it  that  God  has  implanted,  in  aid  of  this 
duty  of  justice,  a  feeling  of  commiseration,  which 
no  prejudice  or  passion,  not  even  the  idolatry  of 
avarice  can  totally  eradicate  from  the  soul,  and 
whose  invincible  influence  on  all  rational  nature,  is 
evinced,  not  only  by  the  universality  of  its  practice, 
but  the  certain  remorse,  as  well  as  odium  and  de- 
testation, which  the  striking  neglect  of  it  never  fails 
to  excite. 

Thank  God  we  live  in  a  nation  proverbially  mer- 
ciful ;  and  where  those  who  have  been  blessed  with 
extraordinary  means  know  how  to  vindicate,  by 
the  constancy,  variety,  and  superior  grandeur  of 
their  benefits,  the  impartial  justice  of  Providence  to 
bis  creatures,  as  the  great  luminary  of  day,  in  the 
majesty  and  splendor  of  its  march,  proclaims  to 
every  living  eye,  the  glory  of  its  author.  Peace  be 
on  their  heads,  their  reward  is  not  here,  save  the 
blessing  of  many  a  tongue,  and  the  exquisite  sen- 
sation of  approving  conscience. 


125 

But,  besides  the  obligation  of  justice  in  this  case, 
a  benevolent  religion  presents  to  Us,  in  every  child 
of  affliction,  a  brother,  redeemed  with  the  same 
blood,  and  destined  to  the  same  felicity.  It  looks 
not  at  those  arbitrary  distinctions  which  prejudice 
has  formed  between  men.  The  august  character  of 
Christian,  levels  every  wall  of  separation  which  va- 
nity has  erected.  "  You  are  all,"  says  St.  Paul  to 
the  Galatians,  "  one  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  :  There 
"  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  nor 
a  female,  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."  We 
see  the  blessed  effect  of  this  Christian  brotherhood, 
in  the  iirst  society  of  Christians :  total  detachment 
from  all  perishable  things.  The  earth  became  the 
image  of  heaven,  the  plaintive  tone  of  indigence  no 
longer  heard ;  the  felicity  of  every  individual  in- 
separable from  the  felicity  of  the  whole !  By  this 
admirable  concert  of  parts,  an  august  body  formed, 
in  which  all  men,  however  unequal  in  rank,  were 
rendered  equal  by  their  moderation,  great  by  their 
disinterestedness,  and  happy  by  their  beneficence. 

Wonderful  are  the  accounts  transmitted  to  us  in 
history  on  this  subject.  For  several  years  the  be- 
nevolence of  Christians  rose  so  far  above  the  level 
of  ordinary  conception,  that  the  Pagans  attributed  it 
to  some  secret  spell  or  charm,  that  had  the  power  of 
inspiring  violent  and  irresistible  attachment. 

"It  is  inconceivable,"  says  one  writer,  "what 
"  unremitting  diligence  those  Christians  use  to  suc- 
H  cour  one  another,  since  they  have  abandoned  the 

Q 


126 

u  true  religion  and  adore  a  crucified  man.  Their 
"  teachers  have  acquired  the  wonderful  art  of  per- 
"  suading  them  that  they  are  all  brothers ;  insomuch 
"  that  the  whole  of  their  possessions  are  given  up 
"  for  the  general  welfare."  We  have  likewise  the 
testimony  of  the  greatest  enemy  the  Christian  faith 
ever  had,  and  certainly  the  most  subtile  and  dan- 
gerous. For  he  did  not,  like  his  predecessors  on 
the  throne,  carry  fire  and  sword  among  its  abettors, 
since  experience  had  proved,  that  such  attempts  were 
fruitless,  and  only  served  to  give  new  vigour  and 
increase  to  the  cause.  But  as  the  love  and  charity 
of  the  Christians  went  evidently  to  beget  and  diffuse 
veneration  for  the  principles  that  could  inspire  them, 
he  strove,  if  possible,  to  clothe  the  heathen  worship 
in  the  same  fascinating  exterior,  and  thus  oppose 
Christianity  with  its  own  weapons.  u  Since  no- 
"  thing,"  says  he,  in  a  letter  to  a  pagan  priest,  "has 
"  contributed  more  to  the  progress  of  the  Christian 
"  superstition,  than  their  attention  to  the  poor  and 
iC  friendless,  let  us  even  exceed  them  in  this  way. 
"  Let  us  immediately  establish  hospitals  and  other 
li  asylums  for  indigence  and  infirmity  in  every  city. 
u  For,  certainly  it  is  no  small  ground  of  reproach 
"that  we  should  be  so  glaringly  deficient  in  these 
6i  things ;  whilst  those  impious  Galileans  cherish 
^and  relieve,  not  only  the  wretched  of  their  own 
*c  communion,  but  likewise  of  ours." 

In  addition  to  this  striking  testimony  of  primitive 
benevolence,  it  is  recorded,  that,  in  a  single  town, 
namely  that  of  Alexandria,  there  were  annually  five 


127 

hundred  individuals  chosen  out  of  the  body  of  Chris- 
tians to  superintend  the  relief  of  the  diseased  poor 
only.  And  so  excessive  was  the  zeal  of  benevolence 
in  this  way,  that  Eusebius,  (a  Christian,)  in  descri- 
bing a  plague  that  laid  waste  the  interior  of  Egypt, 
has  these  remarkable  words.  "  Multitudes  of  our 
"  brethren,  without  distinction  of  rank,  sacrificing  life 
"  to  the  principle  that  inspired  them,  supported  the 
"loathsome  and  infected  bodies  of  the  expiring  in 
"  their  arms;  and,  after  losing  their  eyes,  carried  them 
"  on  their  shoulders  to  the  grave,  only  living  to  re- 
"ceive,in  the  course  of  a  few  succeeding  moments,  the 
"  same  prompt,  generous,  and  intrepid  office  of  mercy 
"  from  others." 

To  poor  prisoners  and  captives  the  relief  was  also 
never-failing  and  extraordinary.  Witness  only  what 
is  related  of  a  Christian  bishop,  who,  together  with 
the  entire  clergy  of  his  diocese,  sacrificed  all  they 
possessed  at  the  moment,  and  were  to  derive  from 
the  revenue  of  their  respective  benefices  for  one  or 
more  years,  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  many  Chris- 
tians then  languishing  in  the  prisons  of  Rome,  under 
the  united  pressure  of  cruelty  and  famine. 

My  brethren,  how  much  do  misfortunes  of  this 
nature,  though  arising  froril  another  source,  call,  in 
this  city,  for  our  tenderest  recollection  !  If  there  be 
any  species  of  inhumanity  that  exceeds  all  others  in 
the  wantonness  of  its  principle,  it  is  that  of  commit- 
ting a  human  being  to  the  calamity  of  a  rigorous 
confinement,  often  for  a  trifling  debt,  possibly  the 


128 

result  of  disasters  which  no  kind  of  precaution,  nor 
the  best  regulated  industry  could  fence  against. 
Perhaps  the  father  of  a  large  family,  thus  plucked 
from  his  counter,  or  his  craft,  and  delivered  to  hun- 
ger and  disease  ;  and,  what  I  conceive  to  be  a  much 
greater  evil,  the  tortures  of  his  mind,  at  the  forlorn 
situation  of  objects  the  most  dear  to  him,  deprived  of 
the  labour  that  maintained,  and  the  parent  whose  ex- 
ample instructed,  whose  laborious  industry  fed 
them !  The  unfeeling  creditor,  whom  neither  the 
supplications  of  a  wife,  nor  cries  of  helpless  infants 
could  soften  into  pity,  becomes  himself  a  sufferer  by 
his  cruelty,  or  generally,  at  least,  reaps  no  advan- 
tage from  it,  unless  it  be  to  gratify  a  barbarous  heart, 
and  increase  the  burdens  of  the  community. 

To  resume  my  subject;  there  was  no  possible 
calamity,  to  which  the  indefatigable  eye,  and  burn- 
ing heart  of  primitive  benevolence  was  not  directed. 
It  appears  from  a  commentary  of  one  of  the  Fathers 
on  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  that  not  reckoning 
widows  and  orphans,  destitute  children,  and  stran- 
gers, and  lepers,  and  those  whose  distress  was  only 
discovered  by  investigation,  or  if  I  may  so  call  it, 
the  sacred  curiosity  of  charity ;  that  besides  those 
various  cases,  there  were  four  thousand  poor  of  other 
descriptions,  supported  %y  the  Christian  benefac- 
tions of  one  small  quarter  of  the  city  of  Constanti- 
nople. 

And  that  even  a  studied  and  dignified  ostentation 
in  (he  display  of  this  virtue  was  deemed  justifiable, 


129 

We  find  from  a  singular  example  with  respect  to  the 
emperor  Decius.  The  tyrant  demanded  the  fancied 
treasures  of  the  church.  A  deputation  replied  on  the 
part  of  the  body,  and  requested  but  a  day  to  satisfy 
the  order.  In  the  interim  they  assembled  the  lame, 
the  blind,  the  diseased,  friendless  infancy,  and  help- 
less decrepitude,  an  interesting  and  motley  group  of 
all  wretchedness,  and  producing  them,  exclaimed, 
"Behold  the  treasures  of  the  Church;  this  is  the 
"only  wealth  and  inheritance  which  Jesus  Christ 
i(  has  bequeathed  to  his  disciples." 

I  have  collected  those  examples,  as  the  best  de- 
monstration, how  far,  even  the  most  benevolent 
Christians  among  us,  have  yet  to  improve,  before 
they  arrive  at  the  standard  of  love  and  charity, 
which,  in  their  primitive  brethren,  was  a  living  com- 
mentary on  the  practice  and  doctrine  of  our  divine 
master.  We  see  therefore  clearly,  that  whatever 
our  virtue  in  this  way  may  be,  and  great  manifestly 
it  is,  we  have  still  ground  to  beware  of  illusion,  or 
false  security.  It  is  a  sunken  rock,  the  more  fatal 
from  its  not  creating  apprehension  of  danger.  More 
Christian  souls  have  been  wrecked  on  it,  than  on 
those  of  open  depravity. 

That  a  man  who,  after  serious  examination  of  his 
practice,  finds  it,  generally  speaking,  conformable 
to  what  conscience  and  religion  prescribe,  should 
rest  in  a  great  degree  satisfied  with  himself,  is  both 
reasonable  and  just. 


130 

When  self-approbation  is  founded  in  truth,  it 
becomes  obviously  legitimate.  It  is  the  first  fruit 
and  first  compensation  of  virtue.  But  he  who,  from 
the  want  of  such  severe  and  honest  scrutiny,  unhap- 
pily deems  himself  what  he  is  not,  resembles  the 
dropsical  infirm,  who  would  mistake,  for  sound  and 
increasing  flesh,  the  mere  consequence  of  a  disorder, 
that  is  sinking  him  to  the  grave. 

Self-love  disguises  itself  in  so  many  forms,  is  so 
subtile  and  ingenious,  whether  to  extenuate  our 
greatest  defects,  or  give  superior  lustre  to  our  mode- 
rate virtues,  that  even  the  wisest  may  be  deceived. 
It  is  a  gross,  and  not  uncommon  illusion  among 
some  Christians,  to  judge  of  their  individual  merits 
and  sufficiency,  in  the  discharge  of  the  duty  before 
us,  by  the  magnificent  effects  that  have  resulted  from 
the  general  practice.  This  is  coming  at  justification 
on  the  point ;  or,  to  speak  more  familiarly,  going 
to  Heaven  nearly  at  free  cost.  No,  my  brethren,  if 
we  aspire  thither,  it  must  be  with  our  own  wings; 
else  we  remain  fixed  to  the  earth.  Every  Christian 
is  to  look  to  himself,  and  honestly  ask  his  heart, 
what  share  he  has  borne  in  producing,  and  still  bears 
in  perpetuating,  those  glorious  monuments  of  mercy, 
that  exalt  us  in  the  eyes  of  nations. 

Many  and  awful  are  the  warnings  we  receive  in 
the  sacred  writings,  on  the  danger  of  worldly  pros- 
perity. When  it  is  said,  that  it  is  easier  for  a  camel 
to  pass  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  than  for  a  rich 
man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  it  certain- 


131 

ly  is  not  intended  to  disturb  our  muscles  by  its 
singularity;  but  to  convey  the  strongest  ima- 
ginable idea  of  the  extreme  facility,  with  which  the 
blessings  of  such  a  complexion  may  be  converted 
into  the  last  of  misfortunes.  And  you  may  judge 
what  impression  this  awful  truth  is  capable  of 
making  on  the  soul  of  a  true  Christian,  when  I  tell 
you,  that  one  of  yourselves,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  merciful  characters  of  this  nation,  has  been 
heard  to  declare,  that  though  he  endeavoured  to 
discharge  his  trust  in  the  relief  of  all  indigence  to  the 
very  utmost,  he  yet,  never  in  the  course  of  his  life, 
reflected  upon  the  extent  of  that  sacred  obligation, 
without  encreased  fear  and  trembling. 

Whether  such  a  feeling  be  salutary  or  puerile, 
each  will  determine,  according  to  the  degree  and  se- 
riousness of  his  faith.  I  shall  conclude  these  reflec- 
tions with  observing,  that  I  have  not  offered  them 
in  the  spirit  of  reproach.  Far  from  it !  But  from  a 
conviction,  that  to  recommend  a  serious  appeal  to 
our  own  bosoms,  as  the  only  means  of  dissipating 
all  illusions,  and  clearly  discovering  how  far  we 
come  up  to  what  is  solemnly  required  of  us,  accor- 
ding to  our  ability,  is  the  sacred  duty  of  every  min- 
ister of  God,  who  has  either  an  atom  of  zeal  for  the 
cause,  or  care  for  the  salvation  of  those  whom  he 
addresses. 

It  would  not  be  easy  for  me  to  offer  novelty  of 
matter  in  the  case  for  which  we  are  assembled. 
Whether  we  follow  such  unhappy  creatures  in  a 


132 

state  of  dereliction,  from  the  first  advances  of  misery 
and  vice,  through  every  gradation,  to  a  sad  and  often 
horrible  catastrophe  ;  whether  we  look  to  the  enor- 
mous guilt  of  those  men,  who  lie  in  wait  for  the 
destruction  of  such  innocence ;  whether  we  consider 
the  supereminent  obligation,  of  being  engaged  more 
on  these  occasions,  by  a  regard  for  their  salvation, 
than  pity  for  their  temporal  misfortunes  ;  whether 
we  reflect  upon  the  extraordinary,  nay  irresistible 
influence,  which  woman  naturally  possesses  in  the 
diffusion  of  virtue  or  vice ;  there  is  not  one  of 
those  various  and  most  sacred  motives,  in  the  present 
case,  that  has  not  been  fully  urged  on  you,  at  least 
to  the  utmost  extent  of  my  ability,  in  a  multiplicity 
of  former  discourses. 

Why  then  should  I  trouble  you  on  points,  which 
I  have  neither  language  nor  imagination  to  present 
in  new  colours?  Perhaps,  even  the  interest  of  these 
orphans  would  have  required  another  advocate.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  I  must  say,  that  you  have  long  heard 
me  on  the  subject  with  singular  patience.  I  am 
blessed  with  the  effect,  and  never  do  I  wish  to  see 
the  moment  that  would  efface  from  my  soul  the  ten- 
derest  recollection  of  such  generosity  and  indul- 
gence. I  commit  then,  with  perfect  tranquillity,  the 
event  of  the  day,  to  your  established  sense  of  the 
merits  of  this  great  institution ;  justly  indeed  styled 
great,  when  we  look  to  a  scale  of  protection,  compre- 
hensive without  example,  I  am  sure,  at  this  moment, 
in  any  nation  upon  earth. 


133 

The  number  is  now  one  hundred  and  twenty-five,* 
and  will  shortly  be  one  hundred  and  forty,  fatherless 
and  motherless  creatures,  all  maintained  and  educa- 
ted within  the  walls  of  one  establishment,  with  little 
aid  but  the  resutt  of  a  single  day's  appeal  to  public 
mercy  !  And  how  doubly  glorious  to  our  metropolis,, 
when  it  is  considered,  that  besides  this,  and  in  times 
more  or  less  unfavourable  to  the  circumstances  of  all 
ranks,  it  not  only  provides  assiduously,  and  even, 
splendidly,  for  all  other  public  objects,  but  is  every 
day  indulging  its  passion  for  such  good  in  the  ima- 
gination of  new ! 

It  is  said  by  the  unfaithful  steward  in  the  gospel 
€i  To  dig  I  am  unable,  to  beg  I  am  ashamed."  I 
will  reverse  the  assertion,  so  far  as  to  say,  that  to 
beg  I  certainly  am  not  ashamed.  It  is  a  profession 
I  glory  in.  And  I  bless  God,  I  have  never  failed 
with  you.  I  therefore  remind  you,  again  and  again, 
my  brethren,  that  it  is  not  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five,  but  one  hundred  and  forty  that  now  implore 
you. 

Tis  true,  the  burden  is  now  greater  than  ever  5 
but  it  is  not  you  that  can  be  alarmed  at  it,  since, 
strictly  speaking,  it  is  one  of  your  own  creating* 
Yield  then,  my  brethren,  on  this  occasion,  as  you 
have  invariably  done,  to  the  supreme  delight  of 
doing  good.  Try,  whether  the  additional  sacrifice 
that  is  now  required  of  you,  will  not  prove  a  rich 
mine  of  pleasure  to  your  hearts ;  whether  to-mor- 


134 

row's  sun  will  not  behold  you  rising  from  your  pil- 
lows with  joy,  at  the  recollection  of  having  fairly 
and  fully  met  the  increased  exigence  of  the  case, 
which,  in  all  its  views,  I  will  venture  to  pronounce, 
as  sacred  and  affecting  as  ever  aadressed  itself  to 
the  bosom  of  a  Christian. 

As  many  of  you,  my  children,  and  by  that  name  I 
feel  I  may  call  you ;  as  many  of  you  are  old  and 
instructed  enough  to  admit  a  word  of  serious  admo- 
nition, let  me  in  the  first  place  recommend  everlas- 
ting gratitude  to  heaven,  for  having  given  you  to  see 
the  light  in  the  bosom  of  such  mercy.  Prove  your- 
selves worthy  of  it  by  your  diligent  and  docility, 
and  when  you  go  forth  into  the  world,  full  fraught 
with  those  sacred  principles,  which  I  know  are 
carefully  and  profoundly  instilled  into  you,  beware 
of  the  examples  you  may  meet  even  in  the  most  reli- 
gious families. 

Fondness  of  society  with  the  common  run  of  ser- 
vants, though  it  may  not  always  lead  to  positive 
destruction,  will  yet  infallibly  weaken  in  your  hearts, 
the  love  of  purity,  and  abhorrence  of  guilt  and  pro- 
faneness. 

• 

Avoid  that  intercourse  without  affectation,  but  as 
much  as  the  nature  of  your  avocations  will  admit. 
Above  all,  never  forget  to  preserve  a  severe  though 
respectful  distance  with  masters  and  growing  off- 
spring of  the  same  sex.    It  is  too  natural  for  girls. 


135 

iu  your  station,  to  be  flattered  by  the  notice  they 
attract  from  such  quarters.  But  woe  unto  her,  who 
is  not  on  her  guard  against  her  own  frailty,  and  the 
frailty  of  others. 

Let  all  your  leisure  hours  be  employed,  not  iu 
the  secret  perusal  of  those  dangerous  and-  silly  tales, 
that  may  be  scattered  in  your  way,  and  which,  unfor* 
tunately,  too  much  beguile  the  hours  of  your  betters; 
but  of  that  sacred  volume,  which  is  now  exclusively 
in  your  hands,  and  alone  can  secure  your  felicity 
here  and  for  ever. 

There  is  but  one  point  more,  on  which  I  deem  it 
necessary  to  counsel  you,  that  is,  a  passion  for  dress. 
It  is  too  much  the  practice  of  those,  who  take  chil- 
dren from  this  institution  in  particular,  to  foment  that 
dangerous  inclination,  by  decorating  them  to  the  ut- 
most, without  reflecting,  that  vanity  is  a  door  by 
which  the  devil  invariably  enters  into  such  hearts. 

This  is  the  first  time  I  have  addressed  you.  It 
is  the  sincere  expression  of  my  affection  for  those, 
whose  cause  it  has  been  my  lot  to  recommend  from 
its  cradle  to  a  glorious  maturity  ;  and  may  possibly 
be  remembered  by  some*  of  you,  when  he  who  has 
recommended  it  may  be  incorporated  with  the  dust 

May  that  God  who  has  declared  himself  to  be 
the  father  of  the  fatherless,  inspirit  the  hearts  of 
these,  your  hitherto  unchanged  benefactors,  to  do 


136 

this  day,  according  to  the  necessity,  in  the  protection 
of  this  first  of  Christian  Charities,  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake !  Who  with  him  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  liveth 
and  reigneth,  world  without  end  ;  Amen. 

4-nd  now  to  God  the  Father,  &c„ 


Hi 


SERMON  VI. 


[Tor  the  Female  Orphan  House,  Dec.  23, 1798.] 

St.  James,  4ii.  17- 

The  wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  full  of  mercy. 

NEVER,  in  any  period  of  our  existence,  did 
circumstances  more  unite  to  recommend  the  practice 
of  this  great  virtue.  Scarce  breathing  from  the 
various  and  perhaps  unparalleled  evils  of  civil  dis- 
sentions,  what  a  spectacle  does  our  bleeding  country 
present  at  this  moment,  what  a  field  for  commis- 
seration  and  the  most  active  benevolence !  What 
exertions  will  be  necessary  to  repair  the  direful  ca« 
lamities  of  war ! 

It  is  not  the  thousands  of  widows  and  orphans  it 
has  made,  that  appeal  to  us  alone  :  not  merely  thfc 
sufferings  of  innocence  we  have  to  deplore  and  re- 
lieve. There  is  perhaps  a  greater,  a  nobler  duty 
before  us  ;  namely,  to  forget  our  injuries,  and  aston- 
ish the  guilty,  by  an  increasirig*system  of  tenderness 
and  mercy :  standing,  as  we  are,  in  a  situation  so 


♦ 


138 

new  to  all  hearts,  so  puzzling  in  point  of  present 
remedy,  to  the  best  understanding;  so  big,  (if  I 
may  say  so,)  with  the  great  secret  of  our  future  des- 
tiny as  a  nation. 

For  one  do  I  declare  the  firm  and  rooted  convic- 
tion of  my  soul,  that  nothing  else  will  finally  restore 
subjection  and  tranquillity,  allure  the  desperate  from 
their  fastnesses,  re- people  our  deserts,  create  con- 
fidence and  affection,  tread  down  the  horrid  spirit  of 
religious  animosity,  revive  industry  and  labour ;  in 
a  word,  disarm  the  heart,  and  enlighten  the  phren- 
zy  of  our  unhappy  people. 

Some  there  may  be  who,  smarting  from  wounds 
Inflicted  on  their  country,  would  cry  out  for  a  con- 
trary policy,  and  judge,  that  our  future  security  calls 
rather  for  examples  of  implacable  severity.  The 
wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  full  of  mercy,  it  will 
take  a  contrary  course.  While  it  displays  the  power 
to  crush,  it  will  likewise  display  the  tenderest  incli- 
nation to  heal.  It  will  treat  with  the  human  heart, 
which,  with  little  distinction,  is  the  same  in  all  men; 
for  it  knows,  that  no  conquest  ever  the  guilty  is  more 
lasting,  or  more  sure,  than  where  remorse  can  be 
awakened,  and  gratitude *exri ted,  by  the  reception 
of  an  unexpected  and  unmerited  favour. 

Perhaps, ,  among  the  many  evils  that  have  arisen, 
from  the  dreadful  visitation  we  have  experienced, 
it  is  not  the  least,  that  too  many  of  us  have  been  led 
to  view  our  condition  through  the  false  medium  of 


139 

exasperation  and  passion*  Long  familiarity  with, 
the  scenes  of  summary  justice,  if  it  has  not  created 
the  appetite,  has  at  least  lessened  the  horror  of  blood. 

The  placable  spirit  of  Christianity  should  never 
be  borne  down  by  the  horrible  impulse  of  retaliation 
and  revenge.  To  give  peace  to  our  mangled  and 
distracted  country,  no  effort,  no  parley  can  be  de- 
grading. To  savages  we  should  leave  the  savage 
luxury  of  returning  evil  for  evil,  cruelty  for  cruelty, 
blood  for  blood. 

Never,  even  in  the  remotest  degree,  should  w& 
let  ourselves  be  hurried  into  an  imitation  of  those 
actions  we  profess  to  abhor.  Nor  ever  should  it  be 
forgotten,  that  even  a  single  life,  sacrificed  without 
necessity,  is  the  deepest  national  disgrace ;  is  a 
ground  of  awful  responsibility  before  the  throne  of 
God ;  and  encreases  a  thousand  fold  the  rancour 
and  animosity  of  the  vanquished. 

All  will  certainly  not  be  with  me  in  what  I  am 
going  to  assert.  But  of  this  I  am  clear ;  that  our 
glorious  constitution  in  church  and  state,  may  have 
much  more  to  fear  from  the  precipitate  zeal  of  its 
friends,  than  the  power  of  its  enemies :  and  that 
they  should  be  reckoned  the  best  benefactors  of  our 
country,  who  labour  to  protect  it  from  the  impolitic 
and  unchristian  exercise  of  triumphant  fury. 

I  do  more  than  hope,  that  the  instruction  of  the 
eteration,  will  now  at  least  become  an  object 


140 

of  peculiar  attention.  Woeful  experience  is  come 
at  last  to  verify  the  truth  of  observations  on  this 
subject,  which  for  many  years  have  been  zealously 
and  repeatedly  pressed  on  you. 

Often  have  you  been  told,  that  if  ever  these  spe- 
cious and  destructive  principles,  that  were  shaking 
every  foundation  of  human  happiness  in  a  neigh- 
bouring country,  and  disgracing  the  name  of  man  by 
unheard-of  affliction,  found  their  way  into  this,  they 
would  raise  a  flame,  which  torrents  of  human  blood 
might  be  insufficient  to  extinguish  ;  and  perhaps,  be 
followed  by  nothing  short  of  total  and  unextinguished 
ruin. 

How  far  this  prediction  has  been  accomplished, 
you  have  seen.  Let  me  not  recall  what  is  fresh  in 
you  recollection  ;  what  is  spread  out  before  you  in 
tints  that  may  never  fade.  To  the  latest  hour  of 
your  lives,  while  memory  remains  a  faculty  of  the 
mind,  humanity  will  weep,  and  religion  shudder,  at 
the  horrors  that  have  been  crowded  into  the  short 
space  of  one  season.  I  pass  them  over.  May  we 
live  to  atone  for  the  share  we  have  had  in  them ! 
May  they  never  rise  in  judgment  against  us !  I  do 
most  solemnly  declare,  the  more  [  consider  the  na- 
tural effect  of  causes,  the  more  I  am  induced  to  par- 
don the  guilt  (if  I  may  say  it)  of  the  people,  even 
white  as  snow,  when  compared  to  ours.  I  would 
almost  say,  they  could  not  have  acted  otherwise  than 
as  they  did.  Minds  so  completely  depraved,  so  en- 
tirely unoccupied  by  any  restraining  sentiment,  were 


141 

filled  with  matter  too  inflammable,  possibly  to  resist 
those  infernal  principles  that  hovered  around  them. 
The  knowledge  of  God  and  the  blessings  of  religion, 
(those  infallible  sources  of  subordination  and  virtue,) 
we  had  almost  totally  neglected  to  diffuse.  The  very 
little  we  had  been  goaded  to  in  this  way,  served  but  to 
throw  the  eye  over  the  immensity  that  remained  to 
be  done ;  and  like  spots  of  cultivation,  to  render  the 
surrounding  sterility  more  striking  and  apparent. 

The  great  mass  of  our  people  continued  still  an 
untutored  and  unfortunate  race,  without  interest  in 
the  public  weal ;  with  deep  and  hereditary  animosity 
to  the  state  and  its  institutions ;  ripe  for  destroying 
all  above  them  ;  brutal  in  vice,  brutal  in  ignorance ; 
ferocious  of  soul,  and  panting  for  the  sigual  of  revolt 
and  blood. 

To  this  spectacle  of  degraded  nature,  of  barbarism 
in  the  bosom  of  civilization,  of  mental  darkness  in 
the  midst  of  revelation  and  light,  we  remained  har- 
dened and  insensible.  The  great  misfortune,  the 
uncivilized  condition  of  Ireland,  became  no  uncom- 
mon theme  of  sarcasm,  even  to  Irishmen. 

Thus  did  we  live  Christians  without  zeal ;  citizens 
without  public  virtue  5  men  without  bowels  of  hu- 
manity ;  corrupt,  venal,  dissipated  and  luxurious. 
Our  means  were  all  devoted  to  the  gratification  of 
our  passions  ;  and  the  united  cry  of  religion  and  our 
country  reached  us  in  vain,  amidst  the  eager  pur- 


142 

suits  of  personal  interests,  and  tbc  agitations  of  a  life 
most  shamefully  secular. 

The  hour  of  retribution  at  length  came.  National 
iniquity  provoked  national  judgments,  and  our  own 
people  were  destined,  as  they  had  long  been  trained,- 
to  become  the  ready  and  furious  executioners  of  the 
sentence. 

Let  not  the  valour  and  loyalty  we  have  dis- 
played, or  the  laurels  we  wear,  deceive  us  so  far,  as 
to  leave  no  room  in  our  hearts,  but  for  pride  and  ex- 
ultation. When  we  consider  our  omissions  on  the 
point  I  speak  of,  perhaps  if  there  be  hearts  under 
heaven  that  should  know  neither  pride  nor  peace, 
they  are  ours. 

To  have  manfully  opposed  the  tempest  that  has 
burst  on  us ;  to  have  bled  (or  been  ready  to  bleed) 
when  murder  and  rapine  were  at  our  doors,  when 
our  constitution,  our  altars,  and  every  private  blessing 
we  enjoyed,  were  marked  for  destruction,  was  doing 
no  more  than  the  wretched  inhabitants  of  an  uncivi- 
lized country  would  have  done,  to  maintain  the  do- 
minion, and  protect  the  peaceful  misery  of  his  hut. 
But  oh  !  what  ground  of  eternal  remorse,  to  reflect, 
that  we  have,  with  our  own  hands,  sown  the  seed  of 
all  the  calamities  that  have  come  upon  our  country : 
all  the  enormities  that  have  dishonoured  religion  and 
human  nature  ;  all  the  outrages  committed  on  every 
feeling  of  humanity  ;  all  the  souls  that  have  perished, 
and  miseries  that  have  been  entailed  on  the  innocent 


14 


o 


and  unoffending,  in  the  course  of  this  unhappy  con- 
test. 

But  let  us  not  despair.  We  have  been  chastened, 
hut  not  devoted.  Heaven,  in  the  immensity  of  its 
mercy,  hath  shewed  us  the  precipice  on  which  a  na- 
tion stands,  "  whose  God  is  not  the  Lord."  We 
have  been  spared  the  tremendous  and  irrecoverable 
fall.  We  still  exist  in  the  possession  of  those  bles- 
sings for  which  we  struggled ;  and  torn  from  which, 
a  man  not  restrained  by  religion,  might  scorn  to  live. 
We  are  still  allowed  to  repair  long,  fatal,  and  most 
decided  errors.  Let  us  not  rely  too  much  on  the 
present  calm  we  enjoy.  It  is,  if  possible,  more  awful 
than  the  storm.  If  we  look  back  with  horror,  we 
should  look  around  us  with  diffidence  and  trembling. 
We  should  feel  all  the  precariousness  of  our  situa- 
tion. Nor  should  the  mind  ever  bury  its  alarms  but 
in  the  well-founded  prospect  of  a  future  security. 

To  provide  for  this  every  good  and  wise  man  in 
the  community  is  anxiously  revolving  the  means. 
It  is  my  duty,  however,  to  remind  you,  that,  if  there 
be  a  God  above  us,  whose  patience  is  certainly  not 
inexhaustible,  who  can  counteract  the  best  concerted 
enterprizes  of  man,  we  should  endeavour  to  conci- 
liate his  favour,  and  attract  his  blessings,  by  a  firm 
resolution  to  regenerate  ourselves,  and  regenerate 
our  people. 

Nor  will  I  hesitate  to  add,  that,  were  all  the  poli- 
tical wisdom  of  the  earth  assembled  to  frame,  I  do 


144 

not  say  a  present,  but  a  permanent  remedy  to  the 
evils  of  our  condition,  their  efforts  would  be  vain, 
without  attention  to  the  culture  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion. The  happy  and  powerful  effects  of  religion 
on  societies,  on  the  morals,  and  manners  of  mankind, 
are  evinced  by  the  experience  of  ages.  The  only 
example  that  has  occurred  of  an  impious  and  suc- 
cessful conspiracy  to  overturn,  through  a  great  nation, 
this  fundamental  pillar  of  subordination  and  virtue, 
has  been  followed  by  such  principles  of  anarchy, 
and  enormity  of  crimes,  as,  1  trust,  will  keep  alive, 
to  the  last  period  of  time,  the  caution,  dread,  and 
execration  of  the  whole  Christian  world. 

There  is  an  object  I  deem  it  right,  on  this  occa- 
sion, most  earnestly  to  recommend.  It  is  not  uncon- 
nected with  my  subject.  And,  if  I  can  persuade 
myself,  that  the  awful  conjuncture  in  which  we 
have  stood  has  had  the  effect  of  exciting  the  serious 
recollection  of  our  duties,  and  that  we  have  nothing 
more  sincerely  and  ardently  at  heart,  than  to  give 
a  firm  support  to  the  renewal  of  religion  and  morals, 
through  every  channel  of  society,  I  may  be  allowed 
to  hope,  that,  in  the  bosom  of  our  families,  this  so 
sacred  and  indispensable  concern  will  experience  all 
the  weight  of  our  authority  and  example.  Our  fami- 
lies are  the  natural  and  immediate  field  of  our  zeal 
in  this  cause.  Indifference  to  it  in  any  other  sphere 
would  be  highly  criminal ;  indeed,  at  this  time,  pe- 
culiarly abominable.  In  what  terms  should  I  speak 
of  it,  where  the  responsibility  is  so  peculiarly  direct, 
the  harvest  so  sure,  and  the  evils  that  arise  from  the 


145 

neglect  lie  so  immediately  under  our  eyes  to  goad 
and  reproach  us  ?  As  the  heads  of  families,  we  are, 
if  I  may  so  express  myself,  the  chief  posts  of  a 
confederacy  in  support  of  the  general  good.  To  us 
the  superintendency  of  a  portion  of  our  fellow-crea- 
tures is  solemnly  committed  by  God  and  our  country. 
Nor  can  we  fly  from  the  trust  reposed  in  us,  without 
doing  what  in  us  lies  to  counteract  the  saving  and 
beneficent  views  of  God,  and  weakening  the  great 
edifice  of  public  happiness. 

Perhaps,  my  friends,  if  human  laws  could, 
without  inconvenience,  take  cognizance  of  such 
things,  no-  man  would  deserve  their  severity  more 
than  he,  who,  by  direct  example  or  connivance,  ren- 
ders his  house  a  seminary  of  vice  and  licentiousness, 
which  must  naturally  operate  to  the  annoyance  of 
the  community ;  but  which,  on  great  occasions,  will 
too  often  come  forth  to  assist  in  its  destruction. 

I  make  this  remark,  because  in  the  course  of  the 
late  rebellion  we  have  more  than  conjecture.  We 
have  indubitable  evidence,  that  servants,  in  numerous 
instances,  if  not  the  actual  perpetrators,  have,  at 
least,  by  the  vilest  perfidy,  removed  all  obstructions 
to  the  bloodiest  barbarities.  And,  in  some  cases, 
even  the  most  generous  and  indulgent  masters  found 
no  security  from  the  monstrous  ingratitude  of 
wretches  hurried  away  by  the  cruel,  rapacious,  and 
subverting  spirit  of  the  times.  Nor  can  any  doubt 
be  entertained,  that  the  number  is  comparatively  very 
few,  in  the  metropolis  or  out  of  it,  who  have  not 


146 

bound  themselves  with  that  union  which  has  at- 
tempted to  overturn  the  property,  religion,  and  con- 
stitution of  the  nation.  To  this  class,  then,  of  your 
fellow- Christians  look  with  the  warmest  zeal  and 
compassion. 

Of  the  duty  you  owe  your  children  I  speak  not, 
Laving  dwelt  on  it  at  large,  when  last  I  had  the 
honour  of  addressing  you  from  this  place.  And, 
indeed,  if  there  be  any  subject  which  one  would 
think  it  should  be  unnecessary  to  urge  on  a  Christian 
congregation,  it  is  certainly  that.  Melancholy  ex- 
perience, however,  has  convinced  us,  that  the  most 
sacred  of  all  obligations  can  be  very  imperfectly  ac- 
complished, and  that  many  of  our  youth  would  seem 
much  better  trained  to  vilify  the  principles,  and  dis- 
claim all  respect  for  the  duties  of  religion,  than  to 
glory  in  what  they  profess,  and  do  honour  to  it  by 
their  practice.  I  am  happy,  however,  to  under- 
stand, that  the  little  miserable  affectation  of  profane- 
ness  and  infidelity,  so  current  among  them,  that  base 
sacrifice  of  the  little  they  know,  and  the  few  impres- 
sions they  have  received,  to  contemptible  motives 
of  vanity  and  fashion,  is,  in  some  degree,  concealing 
itself.  At  all  events,  I  call  on  the  zealous  and  in- 
formed boldly  to  rebuke  it ;  to  treat  it  without  cere- 
mony or  mercy  wherever  they  may  iind  it,  or  from 
whatever  lips  it  may  fall.  Shyness,  or  respect  of 
persons  on  this  subject  is  not  for  the  awful  gran- 
deur of  the  present  moment,  when  religion  and  its 
virtues  seem  to  be  the  last  stay  of  a  convulsed  and 
sinking  world. 


147 

But,  however  deficient  we  may  be  with  respect  to 
our  children,  it  is  manifest  we  are  more  so  with  res- 
pect to  our  servants  and  dependants.  How  few 
Christians  will  reflect,  or,  perhaps,  even  admit,  that 
the  morals  of  this  class  are  any  concern  of  theirs. 
Nothing,  however,  more  certain !  Nor  is  there  a 
rule  in  our  holy  religion  more  inviolable  than,  that 
every  man  possessing  authority  over  another  is  re- 
sponsible for  his  conduct,  according  to  the  measure 
of  that  authority. 

The  very  principles  of  reason  inform  us,  that  all 
government  is  constituted  for  the  advantage  of  the 
governed.  Thus,  kings  and  princes  belong  more  to 
their  subjects,  than  their  subjects  to  them.  Nor  does 
the  weight  of  such  an  engagement  derogate  from 
their  greatness,  or  take  any  ray  from  the  lustre  of 
their  crowns.  For,  what  can  be  more  glorious,  or 
draw  man  nearer  to  the  Divinity,  than  to  exist  only 
for  the  felicity  of  others  ?  By  the  same  rule,  a  mas- 
ter in  his  family,  which  is  a  kingdom  in  miniature, 
is  not  to  consider  those  unfortunate  persons  sub- 
mitted to  his  controul  as  mere  instruments  to  promote 
his  convenience,  and  fill  up  the  splendour  and  mag- 
nificence of  his  train ;  but  as  fellow-creatures,  and 
fellow- Christians,  possessing  the  most  serious  claim 
on  him.  Nor  is  there  a  doubt,  that  as  he  is 
bound  in  rigorous  justice  to  compensate  their  labour, 
and  as  common  humanity  obliges  him  not  to  desert 
them  in  their  infirmities,  so  he  is  likewise  called 
upon  to  be  their  apostle,  to  labour  zealously  and  as- 
siduously for  their  sanctification ;  and  that  if  they 


148 

perish  through  his  neglect,  he  will  be  as  cerlaiuly 
accountable  for  their  blood,  as  he  would  be,  under 
the  same  circumstances,  for  the  blood  of  his  children. 
But,  how  are  we  generally  affected  by  this  alarming 
truth  ?  What  pains  do  we  see  taken  to  impress  ser- 
vants with  religious  sentiments?  What  is  become  of 
that  sacred  practice  which  once  obtained  in  Chris- 
tian families,  of  summoning  them  to  morning  and 
evening  prayers  ?  Is  there  a  master  or  mistress  in 
a  thousand,  who  would  not  blush  to  have  it  spread 
abroad,  that  they  were  capable  of  such  antiquated 
drudgery ;  or,  as  more  probably  it  would  be  called, 
such  canting  hypocrisy  ?  And  yet  I  have  seen  a 
woman  in  this  country,  the  very  first  in  rank,  and 
second  to  none  in  virtue,  she  is  now  no  more !  des- 
pising, on  this  and  every  other  point  of  Christian 
duty,  the  shafts  of  fashionable  ridicule,  and  regu- 
larly performing,  with  her  own  lips,  the  charitable 
office  in  the  midst  of  her  assembled  family. 

With  respect  to  public  worship  ;  Who  makes  it  a 
point  that  his  servants  should  regularly  attend  it? 
Cut  off  from  the  only  means  of  knowing  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  religion,  or  a  God,  from  whence  are 
they  to  derive  light?  Or,  are  they  instructed  to 
reverence  the  sabbath  in  any  other  way?  On  the 
contrary,  what  scandalous  prophauations  of  it  do 
they  not  witness,  and,  from  the  nature  of  their  func- 
tion, are  often  obliged  to  participate  !  See  them  col- 
lected in  groups  around  the  doors  of  this  temple, 
polluting  the  sacredness  of  the  day  with  intempe- 
rance, indecency,  and  imprecations  ;    while    their 


149 

employers  within  are  giving  a  public,  though  more* 
refined  example,  how  far  an  express  commandment 
of  God  can  be  despised  and  trampled  on !    I  speak 
not  of  the  various  other  sinister  impressions  they 
receive  from  improper  example,  and  the  little  re* 
serve  often  shown  in  their  presence,   either  as  to 
word  or  action.    Need  I  observe  to  those  who  know 
that  man  is  an  imitative  creature,  how  impossible  it 
is   for    mercenary    and    uneducated   souls   not    to 
despise  what  they  see  despised;  to  practise  what 
they  see  practised ;  and  to  become,  in  all  respects, 
faithful  counterparts  of  the  originals  they  have  daily 
and  hourly  before  their  eyes  ?     But,  Great  God  !  in* 
what  terms  sufficiently  indignant  shall  we  speak  of 
those  who,  not  satisfied  with  the  perversion  of  their 
servants  in  the  ordinary  way,  that  is,  by  the  usual 
operation  of  evil   example,    scruple   not  to  render 
them  direct  accomplices  of  their  actions,  and  some- 
times in  a  way  which  the  respect  I  owe  to  this  place 
will  scarce  allow  me  to  hint  at?     Who  are  taught 
to  receive  the  importuning  and  necessitous  creditor 
with  shuffling  denials,  perhaps   with  insolence  and 
rebuke  ?     Servants  !  Who  are  commanded  to  close 
the  door,  with  inhuman  brutality,   against  petitions 
of  misery?     Servants  !  Who,  when  the  occasion  re- 
quires it,  are  called  upon  to  be  the  ready  ministers 
of  vengeance  and  resentment?     Servants  !  Who  are 
instructed  to  cater  for  the  vilest  of  human  propensi- 
ties ;  to   bribe  poor  and  unhappy   parents   to   the 
prostitution  of  their  children,  and  lead  an  innocent 
and  trembling  victim  to  pollution  and  infamy;  to 
the  loss  of  peace  and  happiness  for  ever  ? 


t 


150 

Is  there  any  mystery  of  iniquity,  any  office  of 
darkness,  in  which  your  knowledge  of  the  world 
does  not  tell  you  they  are  employed  ?  Great  God  I 
how  often  do  they  come  into  families,  pure  from  the 
harmless  pursuits  of  a  country  life,  inexperienced  in 
all  vice,  and  leave  them  knowing  and  contaminated 
as  the  serpent ! 

Can  the  mind  of  man  conceive  any  thing  more  de- 
testable than  to  presume  on  their  dependent  condi- 
tion, and  drive  them  to  the  deplorable  necessity  of 
electing  between  the  support  of  life  and  the  perdition 
of  their  souls ! 

I  leave  this  subject.  I  should  not  have  touched 
it,  had  not  the  necessity  of  cleansing  an  Augean 
stable  become  manifest  to  i,l  5  commonest  observer. 
I  am  astonished  to  think,  that  Christians,  who  know 
their  religion,  and  believe  in  its  menaces,  can  hope 
for  any  mercy  when  they  show  it  not  to  those  whom 
God  and  nature  have  committed  to  their  protection. 
Unhappy  beings  !  left  without  faith,  without  divini- 
ty, without  any  rule  of  conduct,  or  a  single  tempt- 
ation to  the  practice  of  any  human  virtue  !  rolling 
from  house  to  house,  from  service  to  service,  equally 
neglected  in  all !  picking  up  some  precious  lesson, 
some  new  particularity  in  each,  and  from  a  life  of 
continual  rotation,  becoming  at  last  a  monstrous 
compound  of  all  characters  and  all  vices!  Let  us 
recollect  our  duty,  recollect  our  responsibility.  It 
is  not  possible  that  the  principles  of  our  education 
can  be  so  effaced  as  to  leave  us  at  ease  on   the 


151 

subject  of  future  responsibility.  How  gross  is  that 
delusion,  to  tremble  for  our  properties,  our  lives, 
and  all  the  various  enjoyments,  which  imagination 
magnifies,  and  a  short  period  will  annihilate ;  and 
not  tremble  at  the  great  reverse  that  may  await  us  at 
the  tribunal  of  a  living  and  just  God  !  I  know  there 
is  no  sentiment  in  nature  more  difficult  to  excite, 
than  the  apprehension  of  futurity,  on  the  hearts  of 
lukewarm  Christians.  And  yet,  where  faith  is  not 
entirely  extinct,  there  must  be  moments  of  reflection  ; 
some  unexpected  and  importunate  flashes  of  light, 
that  force  the  reluctant  eye  beyond  the  confines  of 
the  grave.  It  is  not  necessary  to  spur  the  miser  to 
the  care  of  his  treasure ;  or  the  ambitious  to  besiege 
and  importune  the  man  who  has  favours  to  bestow, 
and  cut  their  way  by  means,  however  base,  to  the 
possession  of  riches  and  honours  ;  or  the  voluptuous, 
to  strew  flowers  in  their  paths,  and  pass  their  days 
in  the  midst  of  festivity  and  enjoyment.  No,  be- 
cause vigilance  and  industry  are  inseparable  from 
all  passion.  Shame  !  indelible  shame !  that  the  man 
of  folly  and  corruption  is  ever  awake,  and  the  man 
of  eternity,  the  man  destined  to  a  glorious  and  ever- 
lasting being,  wrapt  in  the  profoundest  lethargy  1 

If  we  be  believers,  let  us  beware.  We  know 
our  guilt  is  recorded  far  beyond  this  miserable  and 
short-lived  scene  of  existence.  The  terrific  aspect 
of  our  temporal  affairs,  and  the  judgment  to  come  on 
a  two-edged  sword,  should  rouse  and  alarm  us. 
Let  us  provide  as  we  ought  against  misfortune  in 
e  and  eternity. 


i5v 

Let  our  present  sacrifices  in  support  of  religion 
bring  future  security  to  our  country  and  security  to 
our  souls  !  We  can  avoid  the  pressure  of  divine 
justice,  neither  here  nor  hereafter.  We  must  atone 
or  perish.  We  feel  our  steps  accelerate  hence.  We 
want  not  lessons  on  the  mortality  of  man.  If  ever 
day  were  learned  on  the  subject,  it  is  that  in  which 
we  live  and  breathe.  We  tread  on  nothing  but  ruins. 
We  live,  I  may  say,  among  tombs.  We  have  seen 
God  every  instant  blowing  on  the  proudest  edifices 
of  prosperity,  and  laying  idols  in  the  dust.  Let  us 
not  go  on  blindly  in  the  face  of  instruction,  and  be 
wrecked  in  pursuit  of  bubbles. 

Stretch  the  Gospel  as  we  will,  our  only  business 
on  this  earth  is,  to  do  good ;  is  benevolence,  is  util- 
ity, is  to  labour  for  our  salvation  and  the  salvation  of 
others. 

By  this  rule  will  every  man,  of  every  rank  and 
profession,  stand  or  fall  for  ever.  May  God  give  us 
to  impress  this  great  outline  of  christian  conduct  on 
our  hearts  ;  to  guard  against  the  hour  that  will  bring 
a  woeful  remedy  to  all  delusion. 

It  has  fallen  to  my  lot,  during  a  course  of  many 
years,  to  be  the  constant  advpcate  of  the  children 
before  you ;  and  though  my  inability  to  do  proper 
justice  to  the  cause  is  naturally  increased  in  propor- 
tion to  the  frequency  of  my  appearance,  I  have  still 
the  happiness  to  reflect,  that  the  support  they  have 
experienced  has  been,  with  little  exception,  uniformly 


2 


153 

great.  This  leaves  me  perfectly  at  ease  with  res- 
pect to  the  result  of  this  appeal.  Indeed,  an  insti- 
tution so  uncommonly  numerous  as  this,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  female  orphans,  destitute  of  human  protec- 
ion  else,  annually  supplied  with  the  means  of  life, 
a  clear  proof  that  there  exists  a  great  spirit  of 
mercy  in  this  country ;  which  wants  but  the  addi- 
tional spur  of  public  virtue  and  religion  to  bring 
about  the  extended  system  of  protection  to  the  chiU 
dren  of  the  poor,  which  every  friend  to  society,  and 
every  true  Christian  must  devoutly  wish  for :  and 
particularly  under  the  present  climax  of  all  vice  and 
disorder  among  the  people.  I  cannot  then,  without 
being  guilty  of  injustice,  apprehend,  on  this  occasion, 
any  diminution  of  your  former  favours  to  this  insti- 
tution. 

You  have  before  you  the  same  motives  you  ever 
had.  And  though  I  should  suppose,  which  I  am 
far  from  doing,  that  you  were  insensible  to  new  con- 
siderations, that  your  zeal  for  religion  and  morale 
was  no  way  influenced  by  any  thing  you  had  seen, 
and  had  shuddered  at,  I  should  yet  be  assured  that 
your  hearts  would  not  suffer  you  to  abandon  that 
which  your  hearts  had  impelled  you  to  take  up.  I 
know  the  human  character  enough,  to  be  convinced, 
that  unaccountable  transitions  from  much  feeling  to 
no  feeling  at  all  belongs  not  to  it.  It  is  true,  the 
vast  and  unlimited  empire  of  artificial  wants  stands 
too  much  in  the  way  of  the  most  inherent  of  all  sen 
timents. 


154 

Opulence  naturally  raises  ramparts  around  men, 
which  confine  their  eyes  to  the  contemplation  of  their 
own  enjoyments,  and  will  not  let  them  roam  over  the 
calamities  of  the  world.  The  rich  are  often  unjust- 
ly accused  ;  they  want  not  the  will,  but  the  freedom 
to  follow  nature  to  the  great  extent  it  would  lead 
them.  Their  hearts  are  in  a  fortress,  vigilantly 
guarded  by  the  passions,  which  misery  is  generally 
too  feeble  to  carry.  It  may  possess  itself  of  an  an- 
gle or  a  bastion,  but  the  victory  is  seldom  complete. 
Place  men  however  in  circumstances  where  they 
may  feel  themselves  too  strong  for  the  tyranny  they 
are  bound  in :  let  them  behold  with  their  own  eyes, 
the  shocking  and  inscrutable  distinction  between 
their  own  condition  and  that  being,  formed  by  the 
same  God ;  redeemed  by  the  same  blood  ;  destined 
to  the  same  immortality  ;  and  nature  will  be  instant- 
ly, and  often  gloriously  vindicated.  It  is  all  on  the 
side  of  mercy,  and  never  I  believe  was  the  heart  of 
man  insensible  to  such  a  consideration,  without  feel- 
ing that  secret  shame,  that  uncomfortable  sensation, 
which  prompts  him  to  get  rid  of  the  importuning 
object,  as  expeditiously  as  possible,  in  order  to  get 
rid  of  himself. 

Who  then  shall  take  no  interest  in  these  children, 
that  ever  received  impressions  through  the  eye,  or 
through  the  medium  of  reflection?  Did  innocence 
come  embodied  from  Heaven,  it  would  not  engage 
us  more  than  in  the  person  of  an  unprotected  female 
infant.  To  shield  such  objects  from  the  blast  of 
vice  and  misfortune,  must  be  our  first  thought,  our 


155 

first  impulse  on  beholding  them.  They  appeal  to 
♦us,  like  lambs  going  to  the  sacrifice.  We  feel  an 
horror  at  abandoning  what  so  clearly  appears  with- 
out power  to  save  itself.  Our  imagination  carries  us 
in  an  instant,  through  every  gradation  of  the  horrid 
fate  that  awaits  them  ;  and  the  more  we  are  shocked 
at  all  the  extremities  of  misery  and  pollution,  the 
more  irresistibly  are  we  drawn  to  the  creature  that 
is  yet  pure !  If  we  be  parents  we  reflect,  by  an  in- 
stant and  involuntary  emotion,  on  our  children,  the 
pride  and  delight  of  our  eyes ;  and,  while  our  hearts 
are  transported  at  their  immaculate  purity  and  secu- 
rity from  shame,  we  burn  to  prevent  the  evil  we  so 
much  abhor,  and  communicate  the  blessing  we  so 
much  revere.  How !  shall  we  take  no  interest  in 
the  cause>of  those  children,  when  we  look  to  future 
effects  of  their  protection  ?  See  it  in  a  life  of  peace, 
of  virtue,  of  character,  of  respect.  See  it  in  a  labo- 
rious assiduity  to  impress  on  the  hearts  of  their  chil- 
dren the  sacred  principles  they  have  received.  See 
it  in  that  gratitude  which  wearies  Heaven  for  bles- 
sings on  the  heads  of  those  who  had  compassion  on 
their  youth. 

Ransack  the  whole  world  of  pleasure,  look  for 
superior  enjoyment  in  vanities,  in  vices,  in  all  the 
revelry  of  the  senses,  never  will  you  find  any  equal 
to  the  sensation  you  experience.  The  delicious  tear 
will  steal  into  the  eye  at  the  view  of  the  happiness 
you  have  communicated.  Oh  what  a  delightful  duty 
is  beneficence,  and  how  worthy  of  being  practised 
actively  for  our  present  felicity ! 


156 

I  dwell  not  on  the  darker  side  of  this  case.     God 
knows  it  has  no  light  or  shade  which,  to  the  best  of* 
my  ability,  I  have  not  over  and  over  endeavoured  to 
bring  before  you.     Why,  then,  should  I  presume  to 
fatigue  you  with  melancholy  repetitions  ? 

However  varied  in  form,  the  misfortune  you  have 
to  prevent  is  scarce  distinguished,  by  any  feature, 
however  revolting,  from  the  misery  which  lies  daily 
in  your  path,  through  every  avenue  of  this  vast  city ; 
or  what  may  be  concealed  from  your  eye,  your  ima- 
gination may  well  reach,  the  lingering  martyrdom  of 
famine,  the  loathsomeness  of  disease.  Death  striking 
one  wretched  victim  while  it  marks  another  by  her 
side.  Imprecations  against  heaven.  The  black 
despair  of  the  expiring ! 

Nay,  as  I  some  time  ago  observed  in  another 
place,  and  have  much  more  reason  to  observe  now, 
the  evil  has  so  increased,  that  we  see,  absolutely, 
children  scarce  endowed  with  reason,  to  whom  of- 
fence is  scarce  imputable,  hurried  in  swarms  down 
the  stream  of  this  infernal  torrent. 

Is  it  in  nature  not  to  bleed  for  these  before  you, 
when  you  reflect  on  such  things?  Or  did  ail  the 
spirit  of  the  Divinity  ever  appear  to  breathe  on  hu- 
man action,  if  it  be  not  in  support  of  an  institution 
like  this? 

Particular  circumstances  have  occasioned  the  pre- 
sent appeal  to  be  brought  forward  much  earlier  in 


157 

the  season  than  was  intended  it  should.  This  is  a 
great  aud  manifest  disadvantage  ;  as  many  persons 
of  wealth  and  consideration,  who  invariably  attended 
on  this  occasion,  are  now  absent  from  town.  I  rely, 
nay  I  am  sure  you  will  therefore  be  induced  nobly 
and  generously  to  redouble  your  exertions.  You 
will  not  suffer  an  establishment  so  long  the  pride  of 
the  metropolis,  so  cherished  and  so  patronized  by 
all  the  virtue  of  the  nation,  to  become  the  victim  of 
unavoidable  casualty. 

I  am  sensible  there  are  some  individuals  in  the 
place,  not  usually  resident  among  us,  natives  of  an- 
other soil,  whose  souls,  I  have  had  evidence  in  the 
case  of  those  who  perished  in  the  late  rebellion,  are 
as  large  as  their  properties  are  immense.  This,  I 
consider  a  most  providential  circumstance  in  this 
moment  of  distress.  But  to  you,  my  friends,  the 
natural,  and  always  ardent  protectors  of  these  or- 
phans, I  am  bound  above  all  to  look,  nor  shall  I  ba 
deceived.  True  mercy,  like  true  valour,  is  stimula- 
ted by  difficulties.  It  rises  in  proportion  to  the 
call  upon  it ;  and  it  is  not  such  hearts  as  yours, 
that  will  prevent  the  usual  glory  of  this  day  from 
the  wretched  consideration  that  it  will  cost  you  more 
than  usually  dear. 

I  will  trouhle  you  no  more.  You  see  I  have  not 
laboured  to  excite  you  ;  because  I  know,  from  long 
experience,  that  your  leaning  to  these  fatherless  and 
motherless  orphans  is  peculiar.  Perhaps  there  is 
not,  under  heaven,  a  more  glorious  and  transporting 

U 


# 


158 

reflection,  than  to  think  that  we  sit  in  this  place, 
like  so  many  Divinities,  giving,  at  a  word,  life, 
health,  present  happiness,  and  immortal  bliss,  to  the 
most  forlorn  and  friendless  of  all  human  creatures. 
I  have  done. 

"  Glory  be  to  God  on  high,  and  peace  and  good- 
€i  will  among  men." 


SERMON  VII. 


[The  Love  of  our  Country.] 

Book  of  Wisdom,  c.  xii.  v.  13. 

For  neither  is  there  any  God  but  thou  that  carest 
for  all. 

TO  unite  mankind  in  the  bonds  of  society  seems 
ever  to  have  been  a  primary  object  in  the  designs  of 
God.  In  the  order  of  nature,  we  behold  his  provi- 
dence anxiously  directed  to  the  accomplishment  of 
this  great  purpose,  through  the  powerful  medium  of 
man's  necessities,  and  the  instinctive  attachment  he 
feels  for  his  species.  In  the  written  law  there  is 
evidently  less  attention  to  define  and  establish  our 
obligations  to  him,  than  to  society.  All  the  precepts 
of  the  decalogue,  with  the  exception  of  two,  tend 
clearly  to  this  object.  Of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel, 
he  destined  but  one  to  the  ceremonies  of  his  worship. 
Of  the  fruits  of  the  earth  he  exacted  but  the  first. 
Of  the  days  of  the  week  he  reserved  but  one  sab- 
bath. The  rest  he  devoted  to  the  felicity  of  hi? 
people. 


160 

In  tbe  law  of  grace,  this  merciful  solicitude  is 
still  more  evident.  For  the  tendency  of  the  gospel 
is,  obviously,  to  frame  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
earth  into  one  society ;  that  society  into  the  nature 
of  one  family ;  that  family,  if  I  may  so  say,  into  one 
heart.  "  Holy  father  !  grant  that  they  all  may  be 
"  one ;  as  thou  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee.  That  they 
"may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one."  Such  was 
the  most  benevolent  prayer  of  our  divine  master,  of 
whom  we  may  say,  with  respect  to  society,  what  he 
said  of  himself,  with  respect  to  the  ancient  law,  that 
he  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  perfect  it. 

It  appears  therefore  indubitable,  my  brethren, 
that  according  to  the  letter  and  spirit  of  our  religion, 
we  owe  to  the  community  of  which  we  are  members, 
and  from  which  we  derive  every  public  and  private 
blessing,  the  most  ardent  affection,  and  consequently, 
the  most  zealous  endeavour,  to  promote  in  all  things, 
its  happiness,  its  honour  and  its  glory.  This  is  the 
subject,  on  which  I  propose  to  offer  the  few  reflec- 
tions that  have  occurred  to  me,  on  an  hasty  conside- 
ration of  it,  and  under  the  sanction  of  which,  I  shall 
hcg  leave  in  the  sequel  to  submit  the  claims,  rather 
of  the  happy  than  the  unfortunate  individuals  you 
are  assembled  to  assist. 

I  ought  to  consider  it  as  a  circumstance  peculiarly 
fortunate  for  me  on  this  occasion,  that  while  labour- 
ing under  the  disadvantage  inseparable  from  a  first 
appearance,  I  have  to  recommend  a  cafise,  too 
nearly  connected  with  the  feelings  of  every  friend  to 


161 

lis  country,  nctf  to  inspire  a  disposition  to  hear  me 
with  more  than  ordinary  indulgence. 

It  has  been  asserted,  my  brethren,  by  the  enemies 
of  our  religion,  that  if  it  do  not  directly  discourage, 
it  does  at  least,  not  inculcate  the  love  of  our  country. 
Nay,  that  the  sort  of  zeal  it  inspires  is  utterly  un- 
friendly to  the  interest  of  every  society.  As  if  we 
had  so  learned  Christ,  as  to  stand  detached  from  all 
those  concerns  and  connections,  by  which  we  are 
expressly  bound  to  approve  ourselves  to  God ;  and 
as  if  the  law  of  universal  benevolence  were  a  law  of 
unfeeling  and  unnatural  indifference  to  the  interests 
and  happiness  of  mankind  ! 

But  such  assertions,  like  a  thousand  others,  from 
the  same  source,  have  been  too  often,  and  too  ably 
refuted,  to  require  I  should  dwell  long  on  them. 
I  am  free  indeed  to  acknowledge,  that  when  religion 
degenerates  into  superstition  and  fanaticism,  it  occa- 
sionally becomes  the  source  of  monstrous  and  incal- 
culable evils  to  society.  There  is  no  species  of 
history,  which  a  benevolent  man  reads  with  more 
distress  to  his  feelings,  than  the  history  of  the 
church. 

One  shudders  to  think,  what  scenes  of  blood  and 
discord  have  existed  at  different  times  in  the  world, 
as  it  were  by  divine  authority.  Various  and  discor- 
dant parties  of  Christians,  labouring  to  annoy  and 
extirminate  each  other,  like  wild  beasts,  with  un- 
wearied perseverance  and  every  circumstance  of  the 


162 

most  refilled  barbarity ;  the  very  shout  of  persecu- 
tion and  intolerance  issuing  from  the  pulpit  of  God, 
and  the  spirit  and  dye  of  the  Koran  transplanted 
iuto  the  gospel  of  peace  ! 

Uut  as  Well  might  God  himself  be  made  respon- 
sible for  such  horrors,  as  the  law  which  expressly 
reproves  and  condemns  them.  Let  the  answer  be 
recollected,  which  our  blessed  Lord  made  to  his 
disciples,  when  they  required  him,  in  the  true  spirit 
of  sanguinary  bigotry^  to  commaud  fire  from  heaven 
for  the  destruction  of  a  Samaritan  village;  "Ye 
"  know  not,"  said  he,  "  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are 
"  of."  The  Sou  of  Man  came  not  to  inspire  prin- 
ciples of  hatred  and  disunion,  or  cruelty  and  re- 
venge, but  to  till  the  human  bosom  with  mutual  for- 
bearance and  affection. 

What  a  striking  contrast  then  do  all  bitter  and  un- 
charitable feelings  present  to  the  character  of  Him, 
who  was  so  eminently  the  friend  of  all  mankind, 
and  who  bequeathed  to  the  world  this  glorious  and 
immortal  senJcnec,  "By  this  shall  all  men  know 
"  that  you  are  my  disciples,  if  you  love  one  another." 
A  sentence,  which  I  most  heartily  wish,  had  been 
written  on  the  frontispiece  of  all  Christian  temples, 
on  the  walls  of  the  Vatican,  on  the  study  of  every 
Christian  minister,  and  in  the  heart  of  every  Chris- 
tian !  A  sentence,  which  I  am  sure,  if  properly  and 
universally  attended  to,  would  have  been  productive 
of  more  solid  happiness,  honour  and  glory  to  nations, 
than  all  that  is  recorded  of  heroism   and  greatness, 


163 

in  the  history  of  human  passions  !  If  the  genius  of 
religion  be,  as  its  enemies  assert,  unfriendly  to  the 
interests  of  society,  what  other  principle  in  the  soul 
shall  invariably  urge  man  to  promote  them  ?  What 
is  to  command  those  sublime  sacrifices,  which  his 
country  may  often  require  at  his  hands  ?  What  is  to 
prevent  his  aspiring  to  situations  which  require 
talent  and  qualifications  to  which  he  may  be  a  stran- 
ger ?  What  is  to  secure  an  indefatigable  attention  to 
his  public  duties  ?  or  steadily  resist  the  temptation 
of  his  bringing  his  principles  to  the  hammer,  and 
thus  basely  cementing  his  private  fortune  to  the  in- 
jury of  the  common  good  ? 

Is  reason  sufficient,  or  is  the  natural  love  of  rec- 
titude, or  regard  to  the  world's  opinion  sufficient,  to 
withstand,  on  every  occasion,  the  mighty  power  of 
personal  interest  or  ambition  ?  How  many  men,  who 
talk  loudly  and  finely  on  the  subject  of  public  spirit, 
are  marvellously  silenced  by  the  magic  of  some  lu- 
crative employment,  in  which  the  once-flaming  pat- 
riot eats,  in  opprobrious  peace,  the  oblivion  of  his 
shame  and  degradation  ?  How  often  does  resentment 
at  unrequited  services,  or  the  feeling  of  disappointed 
ambition,  inspire  strenuous  opposition  to  the  wisest 
and  most  beneficial  public  measures,  and  even  sug- 
gest practices  directly  inconsistent  with  the  peace 
and  order  of  society  ? 

It  is  very  possible,  I  confess,  that  man  may  be 
urged  by  some  particular  passion,  whether  it  be  for 
gold,  power,  or  glory,  to  great  exertions  in  the  sejr- 


164 

vice  of  bis  country.  But  each  of  those  passions,  or 
the  union  of  all,  might,  according  to  circumstances; 
as  naturally  lead  him  to  attempt  its  ruin. 

We  are  not  surely  blind  to  examples.  He  that 
succeeds  by  a  train  of  illustrious  actions  in  towering 
above  his  fellow-citizens,  is  too  easily  transformed 
into  their  tyrant.  No,  my  brethren,  man,  to  dis- 
charge his  part  properly,  whether  in  his  public  or 
private  relations,  must  be  supported  by  a  principle 
more  powerful  than  any  he  derives  from  nature  or 
the  world. 

Such  every  day's  experience  proves  to  be  the 
feeblest  of  all  resources  against  his  passions.  It  is 
from  religion  alone  he  can  draw  that  virtue,  which 
nothing  can  shake ;  that  real  greatness  of  soul 
which  readily  sacrifices  repose,  property,  and  life, 
to  the  public  cause,  without  a  view  but  the  perfor- 
mance of  his  duty ;  and  serves,  with  the  same  inva- 
riable zeal,  a  grateful  or  ungrateful  country. 

Of  this  we  have  a  strong  instance  in  the  writings 
of  one  of  the  ablest,  and  most  intrepid  defenders  of 
Christianity  in  the  fourth  century.  "  Behold  !"  says 
lie,  addressing  himself  to  the  reigning  emperor,  "the 
"  effects  of  Christ's  doctrine  on  his  followers !  Though 
"  groaning  under  the  most  inhuman  edicts,  we  yet 
u  serve  with  fidelity  in  your  fleets  and  armies.  We 
u  defend  your  towns,  yonr  fortresses,  your  isles,  your 
"provinces,  the  assemblies  of  your  people,  your 


165 

u  senate,  and  your  palaces.     We  abandon  you  only 
"  at  the  threshold  of  your  temples. 

"  Inspect  our  lives  ;  what  vices  are  they  stained 
"  with  ?  What  virtues  are  they  not  adorned  with  ? 
"  What  description  of  your  subjects  contributes  with 
"more  cheerfulness,  from  the  scanty  resources  of 
"  poverty,  to  supply  the  exigencies  of  the  state  ? 
"Who  are  less  addicted  to  turbulence  and  commo- 
"  tion  ?  What  citizens  more  devoted  to  their  prince? 
"  What  soldiers  more  prodigal  of  their  blood? 

w  The  support  of  your  throne  you  have  no  more  to 
66  reproach  us  with,  unless  it  be  a  crime  to  support 
u  our  tyrants,  and  obey  their  orders  ;  unless  it  be  a 
"  crime  to  mourn  in  patient  silence  over  the  effects  of 
"  violated  justice  and  humanity  ;  and  prove  the  in- 
u  fluence  of  a  divine  religion,  which,  while  it  prompts 
a  us  to  deplore  and  detest  your  cruelties,  yet  gene- 
"  rously  engages  us  to  range  under  your  eagles,  and 
"  expire  in  your  ranks." 

On  this  passage  there  needs  no  comment.  If  re- 
ligion be  not  calculated  to  inspire  the  most  sublime 
devotion  for  our  country,  in  vain  shall  we  hope  for 
it  from  any  other  principle  under  heaven.  There 
is,  indeed,  a  species  of  public  spirit,  which  every 
Christian  must  disclaim  and  abhor ;  because  utterly 
repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  I  mean  that 
which  lends  a  mask  to  an  insatiable  and  merciless 
system  of  conquest  and  aggrandisement,  and  pur- 
sues what  is  called  national  glory,  through  torrents 

X 


166 

of  human  blood.  What  dreadful  examples  might  not 
be  exhibited  of  this  in  every  age  of  the  world  ?  Un- 
fortunately the  world  has  nearly  in  every  age  groaned 
under  instances  of  this  damnable  conspiracy  against 
the  rights  and  tranquillity  of  mankind  ;  and  often, 
too  often,  have  wondering  and  infatuated  nations 
conferred  the  title  of  hero  on  men  who,  in  the  eye  of 
reason,  justice  and  humanity,  are  no  more  than  the 
worst  scourges  of  the  human  race.  It  is  lamentable 
to  think,  that  the  most  destructive  passions  should 
have  ever  raised  and  immortalized  man  in  the  mind 
of  man.  That,  under  the  sanction  of  brilliant  and 
successful  crimes,  his  name  should  proudly  pass  to 
posterity,  while  those  virtues,  that  are  the  source 
of  every  blessing  to  society,  are  scarce  deemed  wor- 
thy of  remark,  or  are  rapidly  forgotten. 

Well  do  nations  deserve  such  masters,  when  they 
are  dazzled  by  such  glory.  Let  us  now  consider 
the  other  incentives  we  have  to  the  love  of  our  coun- 
try. From  our  social  union  it  is  that  we  derive  all 
those  dear  and  tender  connexions  that  constitute  the 
leading  charms  and  happiness  of  human  life ;  'that 
parents,  children,  brethren,  friends,  associates,  fellow 
citizens,  are  all  enabled  to  live  and  act  together,  in 
love  and  peace,  mutual  confidence  and  general  secu- 
rity ;  that  our  inheritance,  the  fruits  of  our  industry, 
and  reward  of  our  labours,  are  quietly  enjoyed,  and 
freely  applied  to  purposes  of  benevolence  and  duty : 
that  under  the  wholesome  administration  of  (hose 
laws,  which  providence  hath  appointed  for  our  re- 
fuse and  protection,  we  fear  no  open  violence,  and 


167 

recur  to  none  for  defence  and  redress ;  that  we  are 
led  to  cultivate  every  honest  art  and  liberal  refine- 
ment  of  a  civil  state  ;  to  extend  our  views  and  inter- 
course,  and  know  all  the  enjoyments  arising  from  a 
fellowship  of  things  divine  and  human. 

These  are  our  private  blessings.  It  is  not,  my 
brethren,  to  the  sordid  and  selfish  member  of  society 
that  such  considerations  are  addressed.  He  who 
hath  not  affections  strong  enough  to  pierce  beyond 
the  wretched  circle  of  his  own  concerns,  will  think 
little  of  the  grateful  returns  due  to  his  country.  If 
is  the  heart,  full  fraught  with  Christian  benevolence, 
which  consults  joys  in  the  joys,  and  sorrows  in  the 
sorrows  of  all  around  it,  that  is  alone  susceptible  of 
true  public  virtue. 

Suppose  a  man  once  divested  of  all  great  and  ge- 
nerous feelings ;  every  principle,  however  revered, 
honour,  gratitude,  friendship,  country,  even  natural 
affection,  will,  in  the  balance  of  his  perverted  judg- 
ment, all  be  outweighed  by  interest.  The  sole  rule 
of  his  life  is  the  maxim  of  the  Roman  satyrist,  Mo- 
ney any  how  !  money  :  that  is,  if  the  plain  and  beat- 
en paths  of  the  world  will  not  conduct  him  to  that 
end,  rather  than  fail  he  will  fall  into  every  labyrinth 
of  fraud  and  iniquity.  Gorge  him  as  you  will,  his 
unslaked  soul  will  still  thirst  for  more. 

As  he  is  insensible  to  the  calamities  of  his  fellow 
creatures,  so  the  greatest  torment  he  can  suffer  is  an 
appeal  to  his  mercy.     Should  he  stumble  as  the  Sa- 


168 

waritan,  on  some  spectacle  of  woe,  he  will  resist  the 
honest  movements  of  nature,  and,  like  his  worthy 
brother  the  Levite,  rapidly  pass  to  the  other  side  of 
the  way. 

Suppose  him,  however,  under  the  unavoidable 
necessity  of  listening  to  the  petition  of  misery,  he 
will  endeavour  to  beat  down  the  evidence  of  the 
case,  by  the  meanest  shifts  and  evasions,  or  cry 
aloud,  like  the  brutal  and  insensible  Nabal  to  the 
hungry  soldiers  of  David,  "  Why  should  I  be  such 
u  a  fool  as  to  give  my  flesh  which  1  have  prepared 
u  for  my  shearers,  to  men  I  know  not  from  whence 
"  they  be." 

But  admitting  that  a  remnant  of  shame,  for  exam- 
ple, in  the  face  of  a  congregation  like  this,  should 
goad  him  for  once  to  an  act  of  beneficence ;  so  un- 
worthy of  the  great  occasion  would  it  probably  be, 
that  the  idol  of  his  soul  would  appear  more  distinctly 
in  the  relief  he  administers,  than  in  the  barbarous 
insensibility  which  habitually  withholds  it. 

Immortal  God,  what  a  passion  !  and  how  much 
ought  the  power  and  fascination  of  that  object  to  be 
dreaded,  which  can  turn  the  human  heart  into  such  a 
pathless  and  irreclaimable  desert  ?  Irreclaimable,  I 
say:  for  men  enslaved  by  other  passions  are  every  day 
reformed  and  enlightened  by  the  ministry  of  religion, 
or  the  sober  reflection  of  increasing  years.  But  who 
will  say,  that  man  in  the  extremity  of  selfishness  was 
ever  reclaimed  by  human  resource ;  was  ever  vuluer- 


169 

able  to  r  reproach -;  or,  I  had  almost  added,  eveu, 
convertible  by  grace  ?  No !  through  every  stage  and 
revolution  of  life  he  remains  invariably  the  same. 
Or,  if  any  difference  appear,  it  is  only  this,  that  as 
he  advances  into  the  shade  of  a  long  evening,  in  his 
frail  and  sad  decline  of  life,  while  tottering  over  a 
yawning  grave,  with  every  other  passion  long  blasted 
in  his  heart,  he  seeks  for  more  pelf  with  renewing 
eagerness;  holds  by  a  sinking  world  with  an  agon- 
izing grasp,  and  drops  into  the  earth  with  the 
increased  curse  of  wretchedness  on  his  head,  without 
the  tribute  of  a  tear,  from  child,  friend,  or  country ; 
or  any  other  inscription  on  the  memory  of  the  man, 
but  that  he  lived  to  counteract  the  distributive  justice 
of  Providence,  and  died  without  hope  or  title  to  an 
happy  immortality. 

That  there  are  few  examples  of  so  complete  a 
transformation  from  our  natural  character,  I  admit. 
But,  if  avarice  be  rare,  Mammon  has  still  numerous 
adorers  of  another  description  ;  and,  in  truth,  little 
difference  does  it  make  to  the  prolific  order  of 
misery,  whether  it  be  spurned  by  a  heart  of  ada- 
mant, or  not  effectually  relieved  by  those  who  are 
no  otherwise  attached  to  money,  than  as  the  instru- 
ment of  various  indulgences.  This  I  fear,  my 
brethren,  is  a  too  general  case.  But  I  have  already 
departed  too  far  from  my  subject. 

The  next  ground  for  affection  for  our  country,  is 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  its  institutions.  Under 
dominion  the  most  arbitrary,  there  is  yet  in  the  hear* 


170 

of  every  man  an  inherent  love  for  the  region  of  his 
nativity,  which  nothing  can  efface  :  probably  founded 
in  early  and  habitual  intimacy  with  particular  scenes, 
customs,  and  manners. 

When  civil  government  is  more  tolerable,  the 
sentiment  naturally  acquires  more  ardor,  as  it  flows 
besides  from  a  sense  of  some  real  benefits,  and  the 
hope  of  extending  them.  But,  my  brethren,  where 
men  live,  as  we  do,  under  a  system  of  freedom,  per- 
haps, all  things  considered,  the  most  perfect  that  ever 
was,  or  ever  can  be  devised  by  human  understand- 
ing ;  where  the  meanest  citizen  is  proudly  and  justly 
conscious  of  a  superior  lot,  in  the  scale  of  compari- 
son with  other  nations,  and  treads  the  ground  with 
nerve  and  pride,  from  a  sense  of  his  total  indepen- 
dence and  inviolable  security  from  power,  as  to 
property  and  person  ;  where  the  human  mind  is  free 
to  utter  and  publish  its  boldest  thoughts  on  men  and 
things  without  any  controul,  but  that  of  laws,  to 
which  he  has  himself  consented ;  and  every  thing 
conspires  to  call  forth  all  the  talent,  and  energy,  and 
virtue  of  which  human  nature  is  susceptible ; 
hideously  insensible  must  that  mind  be  which  burns 
not  with  public  afiection  ! 

Thank  God  it  is  notoriously  your  character.  It 
would  require  far  other  powers  than  mine,  to  do  jus- 
tice to  the  proofs  you  have  given,  in  the  course  of  a 
long  and  bloody  contest,  for  every  thing  dear  and 
sacred  to  you  as  freemen  and  Christians.  The 
"world  has  witnessed  them ;  the  enemy  felt  them. 


171 

To  look  to  your  limits  and  population,  they  would 
savour  of  prodigy.  Scarce  discernible  on  the  map 
of  the  earth,  your  fleets  have  yet  extended  from  pole 
to  pole,  in  a  series  of  triumphs,  as  glorious  as  unin- 
terrupted, and  collected  matter  to  puzzle  the  faith  of 
future  generations.  Wherever  your  armies  have 
been,  they  either  saw  and  conquered,  or  deserved  to 
conquer  by  boldness  of  enterprise,  and  undaunted 
valour.  Some  reverse  you  have  known ;  it  is  the 
fortune  of  war;  but  even  from  reverse  you  have 
drawn  new  energy. 

In  the  very  worst  circumstances  in  which  you 
were,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  world,  of  your  foe, 
and  perhaps  your  own,  you  have  increased  in  tone 
and  stature.  The  longer  you  persevered  in  the  con- 
flict, the  mightier  your  designs,  the  more  daring  your 
exploits. 

Such  unconquerable  spirit  could  alone  arise  from 
the  greatness  of  the  object  for  which  you  contended. 
Egypt  will  remain  an  everlasting  monument  of  what 
Britons,  and  I  call  the  well-affected  of  both  countries 
by  that  proud  and  glorious  name,  can  attempt  and 
accomplish,  under  climate  the  most  adverse,  danger 
the  most  awful,  and  against  an  enemy  vainly  assu- 
ming the  title  of  Invincible. 

In  a  word  ;  while  among  the  leading  powers  of 
the  continent,  some  early  withdrew  from  the  strug- 
gle, some,  for  a  disgraceful  security,  tamely  submit- 
ted   to   the  yoke;    and   others,    after  a    faithful 


172 

application  of  all  their  energies  and  resources,  found 
it  vain  to  make  head  any  longer  against  a  resistless 
torrent,  Britain  alone,  as  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the 
deep,  continued  to  defy  its  utmost  fury,  appearing 
the  more  majestic  and  unimpressible  from  the  wreck 
and  humiliation  of  nations  around  her. 

More,  my  brethren  !  Notwithstanding  the  union 
of  seasons,  of  nearly  famine,  with  all  the  calamities 
of  war,  not  a  moment's  real  interruption  to  internal 
order  and  tranquillity ;  the  heaviest  burdens  borne 
with  alacrity  and  joy.  Never  did  the  blood  of  pat- 
riotism run  higher,  than  when  called  upon  to  make 
the  greatest  sacrifices.  Not  a  man  in  the  nation  was 
found  base  enough  to  recur  to  art  and  ingenuity  to 
to  elude  them.  Even  the  declared  and  original  ene- 
mies to  the  war,  as  well  as  they  who  thought  that 
peace  ought  to  have  been  earlier  accepted,  nobly 
proved  that  they  differed  from  the  mass  of  their  fel- 
low-citizens only  as  to  the  means  of  securing  the 
happiness  of  their  country. 

From  one  extremity  of  your  coast  to  the  other, 
the  threatening  invader  saw  and  recoiled  from  a  cres- 
ted and  formidable  determination  to  conquer  or  pe- 
rish in  the  threshold.  Not  all  the  splendid  visions 
(and  visions  indeed  have  they  proved,)  of  fraternity 
and  equality,  could  shake  the  firm  allegiance  and 
fidelity  of  a  people,  whom  long  experience  and  sober 
reflection  had  instructed  rightly  to  estimate  the  bles- 
sings they  enjoyed. 


173 

That,  in  the  happiest  and  best  constructed  socie- 
ties, some  wretches  should  be  found,  rebels  by  na- 
ture to  all  rule  and  government,  who,  in  the  prospect 
of  plunder  or  dominion,  would  eagerly  grasp  at  any 
scheme  of  innovation,  whatever  horrors  it  might 
threaten  to  engender,  cannot  be  wondered  at,  since 
heaven  itself  nourished  serpents  in  its  bosom,  who 
preferred  reigning  in  the  abyss,  to  the  fulness  of  hap- 
piness in  the  realms  of  glory. 

For  you,  it  is  enough,  that  the  scanty  and  misera- 
ble efforts  of  disaffection  among  you  sunk  under  the 
execration  of  the  many ;  or,  in  other  words,  were 
lost  and  overwhelmed,  like  spots  on  the  disc  of  the 
sun,  in  the  blaze  of  loyalty  and  attachment  that  en- 
circled the  constitution  and  the  throne*  Such,  my 
brethren,  is  a  feeble  sketch  of  the  proud  effects  that 
have  resulted  from  the  public  virtue  of  Britons  !  Nor 
do  I  hesitate  to  say,  that  to  the  invincible  stand  they 
have  made,  true  liberty  is  indebted  for  still  possess- 
ing one  refuge  in  Europe.  It  is  impossible  for  the 
mind  not  to  adore  the  inscrutable  judgments  of  God, 
when  it  beholds  a  people,  after  having  waded  through 
seas  of  blood,  and  run  the  circle  of  all  conceivable 
calamity  in  the  seeming  pursuit  of  that  inestimable, 
distinction,  return  at  last  to  the  very  point  from  which 
they  started,  gladly  reposing  under  the  yoke  which 
they  once  furiously  rent  asunder,  and  hailing  with 
the  same  voice  the  restorer  of  tranquillity  and  new 
oppressor  of  their  country. 


174 

A  solemn  and  incontestable  proof,  my  brethren, 
that  to  attain  or  preserve  the  real  blessing  of  liberty, 
it  is  indispensably  necessary  that  a  nation  should  be 
worthy  of  it ;  worthy  of  it  by  a  reverence  for  God, 
and  a  knowledge  of  virtues  that  adorn  humanity. 
Nor  is  there  one  evidence  on  record,  of  prevailing 
impiety  and  corruption  of  manners  being  compatible 
with  ought  but  a  state  of  profound  political  slavery. 

The  austere  and  virtuous  days  of  the  Grecian  and 
Roman  common-wealths  were  the  only  days  of  their 
freedom  and  glory.  And  here,  my  brethren,  I  am 
naturally  prompted  to  observe,  that  "  If  no  nation  be 
"  so  great,  or  hath  God  so  nigh  unto  them  as  the 
u  Lord  our  God  hath  been  unto  us,  in  all  things 
"  which  we  have  called  upon  him  for ;  if  no  nation 
"be 'so  great,  or  hath  statutes  and  judgments  so 
"  righteous,  we  should  take  heed  „  to  keep  our 
"  souls  diligently,  lest  we  forget  the  things  which 
"  our  eyes  have  seen,  and  they  depart  from  our  hearts 
"  all  the  days  of  our  lives." 

Here  have  you,  in  the  very  words  of  God,  a  strong 
and  faithful  representation  of  your  happy  and  glo- 
rious condition,  with  a  solemn  admonition  to  evince 
a  proper  sense,  and  hold  in  your  eternal  recollection 
the  source  of  such  peculiar  favour  and  peculiar  pro- 
tection, against  the  grasp  of  that  gigantic*  ambition, 
which,  under  the  mask  of  officious  zeal  for  your  in- 
terests, would  have  added  you  to  the  train  of  its  innu- 
merable victims.  Look  up,  then,  to  the  great  example 
of  Christian  piety  and  virtue  God  has  seated  on  your 


175 

throne,  and  learn  from  thence  ardently  to  cherish 
and  propagate,  as  your  stations  and  abilities  admit, 
the  principles  and  practice  of  true  religion  amongst 
you. 

If  such  be  the  stay  and  the  staff,  the  refuge  and 
comfort  of  every  individual,  as  well  as  sure  support 
of  every  society,  never  forget  that  your  eyes  have 
seen  what  the  detestable  philosophy  of  the  times, 
after  long  and  profound  meditation  of  its  projects  in 
solitude  and  silence,  came  forth  at  length  to  preach 
and  exhibit,  to  an  unenlightened  world ;  declared 
impatience  of  all  rule  and  controul ;  a  general  spirit 
of  inquietude  and  turbulence ;  rooted  contempt  of  all 
ancient  notions  ;  burning  desire  of  novelties ;  youth 
without  restraint,  old  age  without  remorse ;  nature 
itself  no  longer  respected  ;  parents  undistinguished 
by  tenderness  for  their  children  ;  children  by  the  love 
and  reverence  of  their  parents ;  women  by  conjugal 
fidelity ;  citizens  by  the  recollection  of  their  duties ; 
people  by  their  former  simplicity :  vice  the  most 
abandoned,  crimes  the  most  atrocious,  held  in  hon- 
our and  estimation  ;  shame  reserved  only  for  human- 
ity and  virtue ;  suicide  a  received  and  glorious  re- 
source under  private  misfortune  or  political  disap- 
pointment ;  anarchy  and  confusion  in  all  states  and 
connexions ;  no  fixed  and  eternal  rule  of  right ;  no 
society  ;  no  God.  These  are  the  blessings  that  issued 
from  a  school  of  superior  light  and  wisdom,  to  grace 
and  immortalize  the  happy  subversion  of  Christian- 
ity! 


176 

6rreat  Rod,  what  a  warning  example !  How  pe- 
culiarly should  it  be  felt,  when  you  reflect,  not  only 
on  the  impious  liberty,  so  prevalent  amongst  men  at 
this  day,  of  ridiculing  and  rejecting  truth  the  most 
sacred  and  evident,  from  a  miserable  vanity  of  ap- 
pearing to  soar  above  received  opinions ;  but  what 
is  worse,  on  the  notorious  industry,  with  which  the 
most  diabolical,  if  you  will  pardon  the  expression, 
of  all  productions  has  been  circulated  both  here  and 
it)  Ireland ! 

Under  such  circumstances,  remember,  my  brethren, 
that  as  Christians,  and  lovers  of  your  country,  you 
owe  to  the  divine  system  you  possess,  the  most  un- 
qualified support  by  practice  and  by  word ;  not  a 
silent  or  languid  disapprobation  of  the  bile  that  is 
cast  on  it ;  but  a  bold,  prompt  and  manly  defence 
of  its  interests,  in  the  face  of  all  consequences,  with- 
out respect  to  persons.  Remember  that  in  vain  is  it 
taught  and  announced,  or  its  glory  displayed  in  the 
temple  of  God,  if  it  otherwise  decline  through  our 
slumber  and  indifference.  Remember  that  when 
persecuted  by  tyrants,  and  forced  to  seek  refuge  in 
the  caverns  of  the  earth,  no  power  could  yet  over- 
whelm it.  The  reason  is  obvious,  because  every 
Christian  in  those  days  was  a  model  of  what  he  pro- 
fessed, and  a  soldier  in  its  defence.  Our  duty  is  still 
the  same.  We  are  not  indeed  called  to  the  same 
trials.  But  an  inheritance  so  divine,  and  so  dearly 
purchased,  we  are  bound  intrepidly  to  guard,  and 
faithfully  to  transmit.  No  human  consideration  can 
warrant  any  thing  like  neutrality,  when  it  is  invaded. 


177 

a  He  that  is  not  for  me  is  against  me,"  are  the  ex- 
press words  of  Christ.  No  middle  way,  my  bre- 
thren. Open  and  avowed  infidelity  is  nearly  virtue 
compared  to  it.  To  think  that  we  can  acquit  our- 
selves to  God  and  his  law,  without  opposing  his 
enemies,  is  that  monstrous  compound  of  faith  and 
apostacy,  which  drew  from  the  prophet  Elijah  this 
bitter  reproach  to  the  Jews,  "  How  long  will  you 
"  halt  between  two  opinions  ?  If  the  Lord  be  your 
"  God,  follow  him  ;  if  not  follow  Baal."  To  hesi- 
tate and  hold  back,  when  honour  and  conviction  call 
aloud  for  a  manly  avowal  of  our  sentiments,  may 
accord  with  the  political  morality  of  the  world.  But 
there  is  a  grandeur  in  the  cause  of  God,  that  admits 
only  of  decided  friends,  or  decided  foes.  The  Chris- 
tian who  tamely  permits  religion  to  be  reviled  in  his 
presence  must  be  despised  by  the  very  reviler. 

Zeal  is  not  zeal,  if  it  know  any  bounds  at  such  a 
moment.  Then  it  is  that  we  should  know  no  man, 
according  to  the  world,  or  the  flesh  :  forget  friends 
and  connexions,  the  rank,  the  titles,  the  authority  of 
all  who  can  presume  in  our  presence  to  forget  them- 
selves. "  The  fool,"  says  the  Gospel,  "  should  be 
"  treated  according  to  his  folly ;"  and  the  glory  of 
the  most  high  God  promptly  avenged  for  the  outrage 
openly  offered  him  by  his  vile  creature. 

Such  is  our  indisputable  duty.  Of  persons  in  the 
higher  spheres  of  life,  it  is,  if  possible,  more  so. 
They  see,  too  clearly,  the  happy  or  destructive  in- 
fluence of  their  manners  and  morals,  not  to  be 


178 

equally  sensible  that  their  countenance  to  religion  is 
a  tower  of  strength.  Persons  of  inferior  degree  can  do 
little  comparative  good  or  mischief  by  their  example; 
withdrawn  from  the  fixed  attention  of  the  world  by 
the  obscurity  of  their  lot>  whether  they  stand  or  fall, 
the  consequence  is,  merely  or  nearly  so,  to  them- 
selves. They  do  but  edify  or  infect,  if  I  may  say 
so,  within  the  reach  of  their  arms.  But  they,  whom 
God  has  ranked  high  above  the  multitude,  become 
infallibly,  either  instruments  to  increase  or  to  sap 
the  stock  of  virtue  and  morality  in  the  nation. 

On  the  same  principle,  according  as  they  are 
zealous  or  indifferent  in  the  support  of  religion,  shall 
the  spirit  that  would  overthrow  it,  unerringly,  gain 
ground,  or  return  abashed  from  whence  it  comes, 
daily  experience  evinces  that  eminent  piety  can  pro- 
duce a  degree  of  reserve  in  the  most  profligate  and 
profane.  What  then  must  its  power  be,  when  joined 
to  the  imposing  ascendency  of  station  ?  Yes,  my 
brethren,  one  word,  nay,  one  look  of  rebuke  from 
the  union  of  these  distinctions,  will  often  do  more  to 
check  and  arrest  the  audacious  sallies  of  irreligion, 
than  the  most  zealous  efforts  of  Christians  in  inferior 
station.  It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  look  up  for  his 
model;  and  the  world  besides  makes  it  often  so 
much  his  interest  to  please  those  above  him,  that  he 
can  assume,  for  that  purpose,  virtue  to  which  he  is  a 
stranger,  or  even  vices  which  he  detests.  To  the 
ministry,  above  all,  religion  looks  for  the  most  stren- 
uous support.  If  indifference  in  another  Christian 
be  criminal,  as  I  have  represented  it,  in  men  set 


179 

apart  to  encounter  every  thing  for  its  security  and 
progress,  it  is  surely  the  very  last  degree  of  guilt 
and  baseness.  ?Tis  theirs  therefore,  on  all  occa- 
sions, to  stand  forth  and  resist  the  enemy  as  a  wall 
of  brass.  ?Tis  theirs,  in  and  out  of  the  temple  of 
God,  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  the  unwary  and  unin- 
structed,  by  boldly  unmasking  the  imposture,  and 
confounding  it  with  its  own  portrait. 

This,  their  superior  information  must  enable  them 
triumphantly  to  do.  This  ought  to  be  their  glory* 
For,  if  any  thing  under  heaven  can  assimilate  the 
human  character  to  the  divine,  it  is  the  laborious  and 
unremitting  dedication  of  life  and  talents,  to  the  dif- 
fusion of  truth  and  virtue  among  men. 

Thus  it  was,  that  even  a  layman  of  nearly  our 
own  time,  the  immortal  author  of  the  Rambler,  ac- 
counted with  God  for  the  great  powers  he  possessed, 
though  not  exempt  from  some  weaknesses  of  this 
mortal  state.  What  vice,  what  folly,  did  he  not 
inexorably  lash  ?  What  liberty,  the  most  distant, 
with  sacred  things,  was  he  ever  known  to  spare  ? 
Let  the  enemies  of  revelation,  disconcerted  by  an  in- 
stance too  recent,  too  palpable  to  be  controverted, 
of  vast  knowledge  joined  to  the  most  zealous  and 
submissive  faith,  attempt  to  blacken  his  great  name 
with  the  reproach  of  superstition.  I  reply,  even  a 
glorious  superstition,  which  seldom  opened  its  lips, 
or  put  pen  to  paper,  but  to  make  infidels  tremble, 
and  support,  with  gigantic  ability,  the  best  interests 
of  his  country,  and  the  world. 


180 

My  brethren,  I  fear  I  am  detaining  you  too  long, 
On  the  occasion  of  your  meeting  I  shall  say  little. 
The  ground  I  took  in  this  discourse  was  naturally 
suggested  by  it;  and,  though  I  am  conscious  of 
having  treated  it  with  much  imperfection,  I  feel  con- 
fident that  the  result  of  this  hour  will  do  honour  to 
the  public  virtue  of  this  nation.  I  should  deem  it 
the  highest  insult  that  could  be  offered  to  that  sublime 
and  universal  feeling  amongst  you,  did  I  labour  to 
excite  in  you  such  a  cause  as  the  present.  It  is  not, 
as  on  ordinary  occasions,  an  appeal  merely  to  your 
mercy,  or  I  should  not  hesitate  to  do  so.  The  world 
and  its  passions,  unhappily,  raise  too  many  obstacles 
to  the  full  and  perfect  exercise  of  our  duty  to  the 
wretched,  not  to  require  the  utmost  efforts  in  the 
ministry  to  enforce  it.  Though,  I  thank  my  God, 
that  even  to  your  eminence  in  mercy  I  am  not  a 
stranger ;  having,  on  more  public  occasions  than  one, 
in  another  country,  beheld  with  my  own  eyes,  yes, 
princely  instances  of  that  virtue  in  many  distinguished 
personages  of  this.  And  I  am  sure  that,  as  long  as 
there  remains  on  earth  any  reverence  for  all  that  is 
dignified  and  divine  in  human  benevolence,  the  me- 
mory of  the  aid  and  protection  you  have  afforded  to 
the  unfortunate  victims  of  a  memorable  revolution, 
both  clergy  and  laity,  can  never,  never  be  effaced, 

But,  my  brethren,  great  and  prompt  as  your  feel- 
ings of  humanity  may  be,  I  invoke  them  not.  I  look 
up  to  a  different  principle.  I  commit  the  cause  I 
have  in  hand  singly,  to  your  patriotism.  It  is  im- 
possible you  should  lovs  your  country  to  the  degree 


181 

you  have  evinced  you  do,  and  not  burn  to  pay  the 
last  and  noblest  sacrifice  that  man  can  offer  to  it.  If 
the  memory  of  an  Abercrombie  can  never  perish  in 
a  British  bosom  ;  if  all  who  have  shed  immortal  lus- 
tre round  the  British  name,  whether  in  the  command 
of  your  fleets  or  armies,  be  your  idols  and  your 
boast ;  and  every  reward,  every  distinction,  which  a 
patriot  Sovereign  has  conferred  on  them,  find  in  your 
hearts  the  warmest  sanction ;  if  the  return  of  those 
brave  troops,  that  fought  and  conquered  in  defence 
of  every  thing  dear  and  sacred  to  you  as  freemen  and 
Christians,  be  hailed  throughout  the  nation  with  enthu- 
siasm and  rapture,  and  art  set  at  work  to  immortalize 
their  exploits  ;  this  day  will  be,  can  be  no  other,  than 
a  day  of  triumph  to  the  proud  and  glorious  calamity  I 
bring  before  you.  Proud  and  glorious  I  call  it,  since 
it  is  all  that  is  left  of  those  who  greatly  perished  in  the 
same  cause :  the  tenderest  pledges  of  departed  hus- 
bands and  fathers,  the  merit  of  whose  blood  was, 
alas  !  the  only  inheritance  they  had  to  bequeath  them. 

Great  God  !  what  is  there  to  be  envied  in  wealth, 
if  it  be  not  the  power  to  pour  it  out  on  such  a  cause ; 
if,  to  pour  it  out  in  such  a  cause  be  not  the  first  of 
human  enjoyments  !  Great  wealth  is  often  the  lot  of 
the  vilest  of  mankind,  as  well  as  yours.  It  cannot, 
in  itself,  render  any  man  truly  respected,  either 
alive  or  dead.  It  confers  not  one  solitary  talent, 
one  solitary  virtue.  It  is  unequal  to  remove  one 
pang  from  the  heart ;  one  ache  from  the  tooth.  It 
may  roll  through  the  public  ways  in  gaudiest  mag- 
nificence, yet  sink  at  the  same  moment,  under  the 

Z 


182 

collected  scorn  of  beholders.  The  most  studied, 
most  luxurious  gratifications  it  can  purchase  are 
rapid,  and  quickly  forgotten,  and  in  many,  out  of 
the  four  and  twenty  hours  that  constitute  the  day, 
namely,  the  hours  of  repose,  place  its  possessor  on  a 
level  with  the  most  destitute  of  mortals.  It  leaves 
us  at  the  approach  of  the  grave.  We  view  it  on  the 
bed  of  death  with  frozen  indifference,  or  fruitless 
avidity.  Our  heirs  too  often  pant  for  our  expiring 
breath,  and,  naked,  we  pass  to  the  embrace  of  cor- 
ruption, either  woeful  victims  of  perverted  gifts,  or 
confident  aspirers  to  the  promised  and  everlasting 
reward  of  the  benevolent.  Now,  truly,  my  brethren, 
the  prophet  saith,  "  there  is  little  judgment  in  the 
H  goings  of  man."  Imagination,  that  able  impostor, 
walks  him,  in  search  of  happiness,  from  chimera  to 
chimera.  The  experience  of  every  hour  should  cure 
bis  delusion.  His  delusion  remains,  in  spite  of  ex- 
perience. Born  to  ambition,  and  the  possession  of 
infinite  good,  all  his  views,  all  his  efforts  are  yet 
obstinately  directed  to  deck  the  little  span  that  in- 
tervenes between  his  cradle  and  his  grave.  Sorrow, 
and  care,  and  miserable  agitation,  become  the  portion 
of  his  days  on  earth,  merely  to  die  overwhelmed 
with  riches,  or  surrounded  with  splendour. 

Rapidly,  too  i;apidly,  my  brethren,  does  that  pe- 
riod advance,  that  will  display,  in  a  faithful  glass, 
what  shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we  may  have 
pursued.  Nor  does  the  great  globe  inherit  one  ob- 
ject that  could  afford  us  so  much  consolation  at  tluu 
tremendous  moment,  as  the  recollection  of  one  cup 


18S 

of  water  given  to  a  child  of  misery  in  the  name  of 
Christ. 

Use,  therefore,  my  brethren,  the  wealth  with 
which  God  has  so  profusely  blessed  you,  in  a  man- 
ner honourable  to  your  religion,  to  human  nature, 
and  your  country.  Use  it  on  this  great  occasion  as 
you  used  it  on  a  similar  one.  Let  the  immense  sub- 
scription that  followed  your  everlasting  triumph  on 
the  north  seas,  stand  full  in  your  recollection  at  this 
moment,  soar  as  much  higher  as  you  will.  But  deep 
and  eternal  would  be  the  ground  of  self-reproach, 
did  you  meet  the  present  claim  on  you  with  inferior 
souls. 

I  make  no  comparison  between  the  different  ser- 
vices. I  believe  I  may  say,  without  doubt,  that 
E^ypt  was  the  grave  of  your  enemies  hopes ;  that 
in  Egypt  you  conquered  peace,  and  laid  the  surest 
foundation  for  its  permanence  and  stability,  by  giving 
to  the  world,  after  a  contest  of  nine  long  years,  unpar- 
alleled in  the  annals  of  time  for  the  complexion  of 
its  efforts,  the  most  impressive  lesson  it  had  received 
of  the  incalculable  power,  valor  and  energies  of  this 
nation. 

I  will  trouble  you  no  more.  This  is  the  first 
occasion  of  my  life  where  the  relief  of  misery  was 
the  question,  which  I  deemed  it  necessary  to  press 
on  my  hearers :  a  case,  in  its  nature,  so  irresistible 
to  British  hearts,  required  it.  Were  my  ability 
great  as  it  is  limited,  I  would  not  have  been,  I  could 


184 

not  have  been  tempted  to  forget  the  respect  due  to 
such  patriotism  as  yours.  May  the  sanguine  expec- 
tations it  leads  me  to  form,  be  more  than  realized, 
and  the  walls  of  this  hallowed  place,  till  they  moul- 
der into  dust,  call  to  the  memory  and  veneration  of 
men,  the  mighty  tribute  you  will  this  day  lay  on  the 
altar  of  public  gratitude  and  virtue. 


SERMON  VIII. 


{[For  the  Relief  and  Cure  of  diseased  Children,  and  for  Inoc- 
ulation with  the  Cow  Pox/] 

St.  Mark,  viii.  36. 

What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole 
world  and  lose  his  own  soul  P 

MY  brethren,  I  come  not  here  on  this  occasion  to 
establish  the  right,  or  press  the  affecting  title  of  the 
poor  to  your  succour  and  protection,  according  to  the 
means  with  which  the  peculiar  favour  of  providence 
hath  blessed  you.  It  would  be  useless  to  dwell  on 
a  duty,  which  you  already  perfectly  understand,  and 
faithfully  practise :  or,  in  other  words,  to  announce 
the  great  and  eternal  obligation  of  charity,  to  those 
whom  charity  incessantly  assembles. 

But,  as  unfortunately,  much  anxiety  for  the  world 
is  but  too  compatible  with  the  ready  exercise  of  that 
yirtue  ;  let  me,  before  I  enter  on  the  particular  pur- 
pose of  this  meeting,  crave  the  liberty  to  offer  a  few 
words  on  that  most  important  of  all  considerations 


186 

expressed  in  the  text.  For,  it  is  one,  to  which  every 
man  of  common  reflection,  who  believes  in  a  state 
of  future  responsibility,  ought  frequently  to  direct 
his  view.  I  am  aware,  that  to  urge  the  uncertainty 
of  life,  and  certainty  of  judgment,  as  the  strongest  of 
all  motives  to  reasonable  thinking  on  the  real  value 
of  all  perishable  things,  the  objects  of  human  pride 
and  ambition,  is  little  suited  to  the  habits  and  opin- 
ions of  many  nominal  Christians ;  and  that,  even 
the  majority  of  those  who  have  not  arrived  at  that 
degree  of  hardihood,  which  laughs  equally  at  what 
reason  or  revelation  says  on  the  point,  are  yet  so 
unaccountably  deluded,  as  to  entertain  more  than  an 
hope  of  finding  in  the  clemency  of  God,  a  positive 
security  against  the  experience  of  that  judgment. 

Fatal  and  unsupported  idea !  that  has  gone,  I  am 
convinced,  more  than  all  other  causes  united,  to  ren- 
der Christianity,  what  we  too  generally  behold  k 
this  day,  with  inconsiderable  exceptions  in  any  con- 
dition of  life,  or  in  any  profession,  sacred  or  other- 
wise, a  system  of  easy  accommodation  with  every 
object  that  selfishness  grasps  at,  ambition  climbs  for, 
or  invention  has  produced  in  the  wide  common  of 
dissipation  and  folly. 

And  here,  my  brethren,  let  me  put  a  question  to 
your  candor,  though  not  immediately  connected  with 
my  subject.  Do  you  conceive,  that  the  sacred  season 
of  Lent,  a  season  consecrated  by  Jesus  Christ  to 
fasting,  solitude  and  prayer,  and  peculiarly  set  apart 
to  bring  ns  back  by  the  same  means  to  the  true  stand- 


187 

ard  of  our  calling,  ought  to  have  witnessed  a  species 
of  public  amusement,  known  by  all  experience  to  be 
of  the  most  licentious  tendency,  and  often  fatal  to 
the  morals  and  innocence  of  youth,  where  under  the 
mask  of  concealment,  all  distinction  is  levelled  be- 
tween pure  and  impure,  and  the  ears  of  modesty 
securely  assailed  with  language  which  it  ought  never 
to  have  heard,  and  may  never  forget? 

Let  it  be  remembered,  however,  and  here  I  resume 
my  subject,  that  whatever  our  habits,  or  opinions  of 
divine  placability  may  be,  if  the  religion  we  profess 
be  from  God,  it  lies  not  with  man  to  alter  or  modify 
an  iota  of  its  letter.  Every  thing  human  admits  of 
change  and  vicissitude.  States  and  empires,  arts 
and  sciences,  customs  and  manners,  laws  and  gov- 
ernments, feel,  without  ceasing,  this  inevitable  prin- 
ciple acting  upon  them.  God,  from  the  throne  of  his1 
immutability,  sees  all  the  works  and  enterprises  of 
man  ;  and,  willing  to  shew  us  the  little  value  we 
should  set  on  things  perishable,  has  decreed  that 
there  should  be  nothing  permanent  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  but  the  very  vicissitude  that  marks  and  agi- 
tates it. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  this  scene  of  continual  revo- 
lution, the  scriptures  remain  unchangeable  as  the 
source  from  whence  they  spring.  Such  as  the  first 
Christians  received  and  understood  them,  such  are 
they  at  this  hour ;  and  such  will  they  be  when  the 
heaven  and  earth  have,  passed  away.     Neither  the 


188 

force  or  corruption  of  times  can  render  theni  more 
austere,  or  more  indulgent. 

They  form  that  everlasting  and  immutable  system, 
announced  in  the  revelation  of  St.  John,  "  x\nd  I 
"  saw  another  angel  from  the  midst  of  the  heavens, 
"  bearing  in  his  hand  the  everlasting  Gospel,  to 
"  preach  unto  all  who  dwell  upon  the  earth,  and  to 
44  every  nation  and  kindred,  and  tongue  and  people, 
u  saying  with  a  loud  voice,  Fear  God  and  give  glory 
"unto  him,  for  his  judgment  is  come." 

My  brethren,  the  true  source  of  all  our  delusion  is  a 
false  and  deceitful  security  of  life.  Thousands  pass 
to  their  account  around  us,  and  we  are  not  instructed. 
Some  are  struck  in  our  very  arms ;  our  parents,  our 
children,  our  friends,  and  yet  we  stand  as  if  we  had 
shot  into  the  earth  an  eternal  root.  Even  the  most 
sudden  transitions  from  life  to  dust,  produce  but  a 
momentary  impression  on  the  dust  that  breathes. 
No  examples,  however  awful,  sink  into  the  heart. 
Every  instant  we  see  health,  youth,  beauty,  titles, 
reputation,  and  fortune,  disappear  like  a  flash.  Still 
do  we  pass  gaily  on,  in  the  broad  and  flowery  way, 
the  same  busy,  thoughtless,  and  irreclaimable  beings, 
panting  for  every  pleasure  as  before,  thirsting  for 
riches  and  pre-eminence ;  rushing  on  the  melancholy 
ruins  of  one  another ;  intriguing  for  the  employments 
of  those  whose  ashes  are  scarce  cold  ;  nay  often,  I 
fear,  keeping  an  eye  on  the  very  expiring,  with  the 
infamous  view  of  seizing  the  earliest  moment  to  so- 
licit their  spoils. 


189 

Great  God  !  as  if  the  all- devouring  tomb,  instead 
of  solemnly  pronouncing  on  the  vanity  of  all  human 
pursuits,  on  the  contrary,  emitted  sparks  to  rekindle 
all  our  attachment  to  a  perishable  world !  Let  me 
suppose,  my  brethren,  that  the  number  of  man's  days 
rwere  inscribed  on  his  brow !  Is  it  not  clear  that  an 
awful  certainty  of  that  nature  must  necessarily  beget 
the  most  profound  and  operative  reflection  ?  Would 
it  be  possible  to  banish,  even  for  a  moment,  the  fatal 
term  from  his  reflection  ?  The  nearer  he  approached 
it,  what  an  increase  of  alarm  !  What  an  increase  of 
light  on  the  lolly  of  every  thing  but  immortal  good  ! 
Would  all  his  views  and  aspirings  be  confined,  as 
they  now  are,  to  the  little  span  that  intervenes  be- 
tween his  cradle  and  his  grave  ;  and  care,  and  anxi- 
ety, and  miserable  agitation  be  his  lot,  merely  to  die 
overwhelmed  with  riches,  and  blazing  with  honours? 

Had  I,  my  brethren,  such  a  register  before  me  at 
this  moment,  with  what  an  invincible  effect  should  I 
not  call  those  to  mercy,  who  have  perhaps  but  a  year, 
perhaps  a  month,  perhaps  a  week,  perhaps  a  shorter 
interval,  between  them  and  judgment!  And  yet,  un- 
happily,  we  experience,  that  knowledge  as  to  the 

i  period  of  our  dissolution,  whose  evident  and  indubi- 
table tendency  would  be  to  suppress  every  inordinate 
passion,  and  render  us  melting  as  day  to  the  neces- 

i  sities  of  our  fellow  creatures,  changed  into  uncertain- 
ty, a  circumstance  far  more  alarming,  since  we  are 

i  liable  every  moment  to  surprise,  has  a  tendency  di- 
rectly the  reverse ;  a  tendency  to  feed  and  keep  alive 

|  every  foolish  and  vicious  affection  5  to  embody  ever^ 


190 

vision ;  to  do  away  the  most  powerful  of  all  Incen- 
tives to  mercy,  and  rock  us  into  a  profound  and  woful 
security.  In  a  word,  because  we  are  ignorant  of 
that  hour,  which  we  yet  know  to  he  inevitable,  we 
adopt  the  wretched  and  inconsiderate  consolation  of 
the  rich  man  in  the  context ;  u  Let  us  eat,  drink, 
"  and  be  merry,  for  we  have  laid  up  much  goods  for 
*  many  years."  But  God  said,  "  Thou  fool,  this 
"  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  tbee:  then,  whose 
"  shall  those  things  be  which  thou  hast  provided  ??* 

I  confess  that,  however  unaccountable  it  may  be, 
many  a  Christian  is  deluded  to  lose  sight  of  the  one 
thing  needful.     There  is  some  allowance,  perhaps, 
to  be  made  for  youth,  that  boiling  season  of  life, 
when  all  the  passions  are  impetuous,  and  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  world  so  intimately  felt,  and  so  naturally 
obeyed.     But  to  see  men,,  as  they  decline  from  their 
meridian,  burning  fiercer  and  fiercer  for  that  world, 
shocking  the  wrinkles  on  their  brow  by  an  insatiable 
desire  for  more  wealth  and  distinction ;  sacrificing 
their  glorious  reversionary  hopes  for  acquisitions  and 
attainments,  that  are  on  the  point  of  being  torn  from 
them ;  promising  themselves  a  kind  of  immortality 
here,  as  long  as  they  behold  a  single  being  one  step 
nearer  to  the  grave,  is  such  au  horrible  perversion 
of  reason  and  religion,  as  places  it  out  of  the  ordinary 
exertion  of  the  power  of  God  to  enlighten  and  save 
them. 

This  much  we  all  know,  that  whatever  length  of 
days  we  promise  ourselves,  go  we  must ;  and,  what 


191 

is  perhaps  equally  certain,  at  the  moment  we  least 
expect  it.  Even  examples  of  instant  death  in  all 
the  vigor  of  health,  in  the  very  bosom  of  security, 
are  far  from  being  uncommon.  The  scythe  is  sus- 
pended over  our  heads  by  a  slender  and  impercepti- 
ble thread,  which  many  causes,  internal  and  external, 
often  dissever,  without  allowing  us  a  breath  for  re- 
collection. But  admitting  that  a  misfortune  so  ter- 
rible is  the  lot  of  the  fewer  number,  we  are  not, 
therefore,  a  whit  more  secure  from  surprise.  There 
is  not  one  individual  in  ten  thousand,  when  obliged 
to  lie  down  under  illness,  however  alarming,  who 
can  bring  himself  to  believe  it  will  prove  fatal. 

No !  wedded  to  this  miserable  scene  of  existence, 
our  hopes  are  afloat  to  the  last.  The  understanding, 
clear  in  every  other  point,  casts  not  a  ray  on  the  na- 
ture of  our  condition,  however  desperate.  Too  fre- 
quently it  happens,  that  every  one  around  us  at  that 
awful  moment,  conspires  to  uphold  this  state  of  de- 
lusion. They  shudder  for  us  in  their  hearts,  yet 
talk  to  us  of  recovery  with  their  lips,  from  a  princi- 
ple of  mistaken,  or,  to  give  it  its  proper  name,  of 
barbarous  lenity.  The  most  important  of  all  truths 
is  with-held,  till  it  is  of  little  use  to  impart  it.  The 
consequence  is  obvious.  We  are  surprised,  fatally 
surprised.  Our  eyes  are  only  opened  when  they  are 
ready  to  close  for  ever.  Perhaps  an  instant  of  re- 
flection to  be  made  the  most  of;  perhaps  to  be  divi- 
ded between  the  disposition  of  worldly  affairs  and 
the  business  of  eternity !  An  instant  of  reflection, 
Just  God  !  to  bewail  an  entire  life  of  disorder !  fr 


192 

inspire  faith  the  most  lively,  hope  the  most  firm,  love 
the  most  pure !  An  instant  of  reflection,  perhaps  for 
a  sinner  whom  vice  may  have  infected  to  the  very 
marrow  of  his  bones  ;  when  reason  is  half  eclipsed, 
and  all  the  faculties  palsied  by  the  strong  grasp  of 
death.  Oh,  my  brethren,  terrible  is  the  fate  of  those, 
who  are  only  roused  from  a  long  and  criminal  secu- 
rity, by  the  sword  of  his  divine  justice  already  gleam- 
ing in  their  eyes.  Remember,  that  if  any  truth  in, 
religion  be  more  repeatedly  pressed  on  us  than  ano- 
ther, it  is  this:— that  as  we  live,  so  shall  we  inevitably 
die.  Few  of  us,  I  am  sure,  but  live  in  the  intention 
of  throwing  an  interval  of  most  serious  reflection  be- 
tween the  world  and  the  grave.  But  let  me  warn 
you  on  that  point.  It  is  not  given  to  man  to  bestow 
his  heart  and  affection  on  the  present  scene,  and  re- 
call them  when  he  pleases.  No ;  every  hour  will 
draw  our  chains  closer.  Those  obstacles  to  better 
practice,  which  we  find  insuperable  at  this  moment, 
will  be  more  insuperable  as  we  go  on.  It  is  the 
property  of  years  to  give  wide  and  immoveable  root 
to  all  passions.  The  deeper  the  bed  of  the  torrent, 
ihe  more  impossible  to  change  its  course.  The  older 
and  more  inveterate  a  wound,  the  more  painful  the 
remedy,,  and  more  desperate  the  cure. 

You  may  judge  how  far  any  rooted  vice  will  yield 
fo  age,  by  that  propensity  which  age  might  naturally 
be  expected  to  extinguish.  Who  ever  knew  a  pro- 
fessed libertine,  who  grew  not  more  scandalously 
unblushing  and  incorrigible  in  his  decline ;  like 
Chose  burning  mountains,  which  contain  within  their. 


193 

bowels  unextinguishable  fires  under  crowns  of  snow? 
The  extreme  folly,  therefore,  of  building  on  a  future 
period,  is  clear  and  verified  by  a  lamentable  string 
of  experience.  But  independent  of  this,  how  can 
we  persuade  ourselves  that  he,  who  expressly  de- 
mands pure  and  voluntary  sacrifices,  will  be  satisfied 
with  those  that  are  made  at  last  from  mere  terror  and 
necessity?  "You  take,"  says  the  prophet  Isaias, 
addressing  himself  to  the  worshippers  of  idols,  "  a 
u  cedar  from  the  top  of  Lebauus,  and  devote  the 
"  finest  part  of  it  to  the  ornament  of  your  palaces, 
"  and  not  knowing  what  to  do  with  the  remainder, 
"  you  shape  it  into  a  god."  Precisely  the  case  of 
many  Christians,  who,  while  they  devote  the  largest 
and  most  flourishing  portion  of  their  days  to  the  in- 
dulgence of  vice  or  folly,  are  mad  enough  to  think, 
that  no  more  is  required  to  secure  an  eternal  interest, 
than  offering  up  to  God  the  vile  leavings  of  the 
world. 

But,  if  danger  be  not  apprehended  while  the  thun- 
der of  heaven  rolls  at  a  distance,  believe  me,  when 
it  shall  collect  over  our  heads,  we  may  be  fatally 
convinced,  that  a  well-spent  life  is  the  only  conduc- 
tor that  can  avert  the  bolt.  Let  us  reflect,  that  time 
waits  for  no  man.  Sleeping,  or  waking,  our  days 
are  on  the  wing.  If  we  look  to  those  that  are  past, 
they  are  but  as  a  point.  When  I  compare  the  present 
aspect  of  this  city  with  that  which  it  exhibited  with- 
in the  short  space  of  my  own  residence,  what  does 
the  result  present,  but  the  most  melancholy  proof  of 
human  instability  ?  New  characters  in  every  scene  j 


194 

new  events,  new  principles,  new  passions,  a  new 
creation  insensibly  arisen  from  the  ashes  of  the  old. 
Which-ever  side  I  look,  the  ravage  of  death  has 
nearly  renovated  all.  Scarcely  do  we  look  around 
us  in  life,  when  our  children  are  matured,  and  remind 
us  of  the  grave.  The  great  feature  of  all  nature  is 
rapidity  of  growth  and  declension.  Ages  are  renew- 
ed, but  the  figure  of  the  world  passeth  away.  God 
only  remains  the  same.  The  torrent  that  sweeps 
along,  runs  at  the  base  of  his  immutability.  And  he 
sees,  with  indignation,  wretched  mortals,  as  they  pass 
along,  insulting  him  by  the  visionary  hope  of  sharing 
that  attribute  which  belongs  to  Him  alone. 

It  is  to  the  incomprehensible  oblivion  of  our  mor- 
tality, that  the  world  owes  all  its  fascination.  Ob- 
serve for  what  man  toils.  Observe  what  it  often 
costs  him  to  become  rich  and  great.  Dismal  vicissi- 
tudes of  hope  and  disappointment !  Often  all  that 
can  degrade  the  dignity  of  his  nature,  and  offend  his 
God  !  Study  the  matter  of  the  pedestal,  and  the  in- 
stability of  the  statue.  Scarce  is  it  erected,  scarce 
presented  to  the  stare  of  the  multitude,  when  death, 
starting  like  a  massy  fragment  from  the  summit  of  a 
mountain,  dashes  the  proud  Colossus  into  dust. 
Where  then  is  the  promised  fruit  of  all  his  toil  ? 
Where  the  wretched  and  deluded  being,  who  fondly 
promised  himself  that  he  had  laid  up  much  goods 
for  many  years?  Gone,  my  brethren,  to  his  account ; 
a  naked  victim,  trembling  in  the  hands  of  the  living 
God  !  Yes,  my  brethren,  the  final  catastrophe  of  all 
human  passions,  is  rapid  as  it  is   awful.     Fancy 


195 

yourselves  on  that  bed  from  which  you  never  shall 
arise,  and  the  reflection  will  exhibit,  like  a  true  and 
faithful  mirror,  what  shadows  we  are,  and  what 
shadows  we  pursue.  Happy  they  who  meet  that 
great,  inevitable  transition,  full  of  days !  Unhappy 
they  who  meet  it  but  to  tremble  and  despair !  Then 
it  is,  that  man  learns  wisdom  :  when  too  late.  Then 
it  is  that  every  thing  will  forsake  him  but  his  vir- 
tues or  his  crimes.  To  him  the  world  is  past ;  dig- 
nities, honours,  pleasure,  glory ;  past  like  the  cloud 
of  the  morning !  Nor  could  all  that  the  great  globe 
inherits,  afford  him,  at  that  tremendous  hour,  as  much 
consolation  as  the  recollection  of  having  given  but 
one  cup  of  cold  water  to  a  child  of  wretchedness,  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ ! 

I  now  turn  to  the  purpose  of  our  meeting.  When 
I  consider  the  uncommon  flow  of  mercy  in  this  me- 
tropolis, the  vast  benefits  it  has  produced,  and  is  daily 
producing,  that  instead  of  being  wasted  by  its  pro- 
fusions, it  even  grows  under  growing  attempts  to 
exhaust  it ;  it  is  unnecessary  to  say,  that  I  now  calk 
on  you  with  confidence,  in  support  of  an  object,  per- 
haps, the  most  sacred  and  important  in  the  whole 
possible  embrace  of  that  virtue,  namely,  the  preser- 
vation of  the  life  of  man.  Did  I  look  to  no  more 
than  the  very  auspice  under  which  this  institution 
presents  itself  to  the  religion  and  feelings  of  the  pub- 
lic, it  would  be  enough  to  impress  me  with  the  most 
exalted  idea  of  its  merits.  But  let  the  matter  speak 
for  itself,  and  prove,  that  amidst  the  many  splendid 
and  flourishing  monuments  of  mercy   established 


196 

among  us,  there  was  still  another  wanting  to  vindi- 
cate, in  the  widest  field,  the  providence  of  God  in  the 
relief  and  preservation  of  his  creatures. 

Most  of  those  who  hear  me,  may  recollect  the 
melancholy  cause  of  the  reform  that  has  taken  place 
in  the  hospital  for  foundlings.  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  revive  the  memory  of  things,  which,  for  the  hon- 
or of  human  nature,  ought  to  be  covered  with  a  veil 
of  everlasting  oblivion.  This  much  however  will  I 
say,  that  as  long  as  humanity  holds  a  place  in  the 
human  soul,  or  any  interest  is  felt  in  the  treatment  or 
existence  of  these  most  wretched  of  all  creatures, 
who  are  abandoned  from  the  womb  to  the  protection 
and  commiseration  of  the  community,  the  community 
should  look  up  with  unbounded  reverence  and  grati- 
tude, to  those  women  of  distinction,  who,  since  the 
period  of  that  reform,  have  assiduously  visited  and 
superintended  that  merciful  institution  in  weekly 
rotation,  as  well  as  the  man  whose  peculiar  profes- 
sional skill  and  experience  in  the  treatment  of  dis- 
eased children,  freely  and  iudefatigably  applied,  has 
been  the  means  of  snatching  thousands  of  those  un- 
happy foundlings  from  death  by  inches. 

My  brethren,  the  institution  for  which  I  plead,  is 
an  emanation  from  that  divine  spirit  of  benevolence 
which  saved  the  former.  The  vast  harvest  of  life 
which  followed  from  its  vigilance  and  exertions,  first 
suggested  the  idea  of  extending  the  same  salvation 
through  the  metropolis  and  its  environs.  It  was 
found  impossible  to  reflect  on  the  innumerable  fa- 


197 

stances  of  infantine  disease  and  death,  that  must  ne- 
cessarily take  place  in  so  vast  a  circle,  without  pro- 
posing the  remedy  to  a  public,  whose  heart  and  hand 
have  ever  been  open  to  meet  calamity  of  the  lightest 
shade. 

Accordingly,  on  the  25th  March  4800,  this  in- 
stitution arose,  ardently  countenanced  by  those  ex- 
alted characters,  who  bad  seen  and  shuddered  at  its 
necessity,  and  since  honored  by  the  guardianship  or 
special  protection  of  her,  whom  the  poor  of  this  me- 
tropolis will  remember,  when  her  station  and  exis- 
tence have  passed  away,  whose  advice,  medicine  anjl 
surgical  assistance  has  since  been  administered  with- 
out distinction  or  recommendation ;  and  where  such 
spectacles  of  disease  and  distortion  have  presented 
themselves,  and  presented  themselves  in  such 
swarms,  as  no  eye  could  behold  without  astonish- 
ment, or  human  feeling  witness  without  horror. 

lleceive  not  this  as  the  language  of  exaggeration, 
If  I  speak  to  you  with  warmth  on  a  subject  fitted  to 
inspire  it  in  the  coldest  heart,  facts,  and  nothing  but 
facts,  are  my  authority  and  my  spur.  What  motive 
could  I  have  in  attempting  to.  deceive  ?  To  enjoy  the 
glory  of  a  great  result  as  a  Christian,  I  ought  to 
dread  such  a  feeling ;  as  a  minister  of  the  living 
God,  I  ought  to  despise  it.  To  him  alone  be  all 
honor  and  glory ! 

But  your  opinion  of  the  inviolable  truth  and  cor- 
rectness of  my  statements  is  indispensably  necessary 


198 

to  the  success  of  my  ministry,  and  consequently  to 
the  interests  of  my  unfortunate  fellow  creatures. 
And  if  I  may  judge  from  the  past,  that  opinion  you 
will,  on  the  present  occasion,  entertain.  Were  it  in 
the  power  of  the  man  to  whom  I  have  alluded,  and 
whose  gratuitous  attendance  has  been  bestowed  on 
this  institution,  from  its  foundation  to  the  present 
hour,  to  bring  before  you  the  cases  which  his  eyes 
have  seen,  and  his  skill  and  perseverance  relieved, 
you  would  then  see,  in  its  true  colours,  with  all  its 
afflicting  circumstances,  what  an  object  you  stand 
here  to  support. 

Wide  is  the  difference  between  the  effect  of  des- 
cription, and  that  of  reality.  The  most  glowing  pic- 
ture of  human  wretchedness  is  but  a  picture  still ; 
inevitably  deficient  in  a  thousand  nameless  points  of 
appeal  to  commiseration.  And,  when  it  is  consi- 
dered, that  language  has  no  terms  on  the  subject, 
but  what  long  and  painful  necessity  has  rendered 
familiar  to  every  ear ;  manifest  must  the  disadvan- 
tage be  under  which  the  pulpit  labours  on  all  occa- 
sions of  this  nature. 

Perhaps  the  more  novel  and  heart-breaking  the 
case  it  has  to  represent,  the  more  apprehension  it 
has  to  entertain  of  failing  in  the  execution,  both  from 
want  of  appropriate  colours,  and  want  of  faith  in  its 
hearers.  Nor  do  I  conceive  any  thing  absolutely 
less  attainable  iu  the  function  I  exercise,  than  the 
power  of  bringing  the  conceptions  of  the  happy  and 


199 

prosperous,  to  the  level  of  calamities  that  are  out  of 
common  experience. 

Alas,  my  brethren,  there  are  many  great,  and  ma- 
ny  rich  around  me  at  this  moment,  who  may  possibly 
live  in  the  practice  of  many  virtues,  and  transcendent- 
ly,  of  mercy,  yet  remain,  to  their  dying  day,  with 
knowledge  as  imperfect  of  the  true  melancholy  side 
of  human  nature,  as  if  God  had  intended  to  spare 
them  discoveries,  that  must  necessarily  go  to  disturb 
the  tranquil  enjoyment  of  the  peculiar  blessings  he 
has  conferred  upon  them. 

Suffice  it,  my  brethren,  plainly  to  state  that  within 
the  three  years  that  constitute  the  age  of  this  insti- 
tution, no  less  a  number  than  thirteen  thousand  eight 
hundred  poor  infants  have  been  rescued  by  it,  not 
merely  from  a  state  of  extreme  suffering,  but  the 
great  majority  from  otherwise  inevitable  death  ;  and 
thus  restored  to  the  bosoms  of  their  disconsolate  pa- 
rents, who,  whatever  the  rigour  of  their  conditions 
may  be,  are  equally  alfYe  with  us  to  the  feelings  of 
nature,  and  even  more  affectingly  concerned  in  the 
preservation  of  their  offspring :  since  to  them  alone 
they  have  to  look,  for  the  support  of  their  age  and 
alleviation  of  its  infirmities. 

Nor  do  I  include  in  that  number,  astonishing  as 
it  is,  multiplied  cases,  which  could  not,  from  their 
nature,  be  admitted  to  present  themselves,  in  the 
common  train,  at  the  doors  of  the  institution  ;  name- 
ly, unfortunate  mothers  with  their  infants,  victims 


200 

©f  the  vices  of  fathers,  and  literally  I  may  say, 
falling  to  pieces,  from  the  dreadful  and  neglected 
effects  of  a  disorder,  I  shall  not  name ;  all  of  whom 
have  been  attended  aud  supplied  with  the  means  of  re- 
covery at  their  homes,  where  recovery  was  possible. 

Even  numerous  instances  have  occurred,  where 
the  criminal  author  of  such  calamity,  sharing  at  the 
same  time,  the  mercy  extended  to  his  innocent  wife 
and  child,  has  not  only  thereby  been  enabled,  while 
under  cure,  to  contribute  to  the  support  of  a  nume- 
rous family,  by  his  industry  within  doors,  who  must 
otherwise  have  been  cast  out  to  beggary  and  ruin  ; 
but  likewise  been  led  by  the  opportunity  of  reflection, 
on  the  sad  consequences  of  his  misconduct,  constantly 
before  his  eyes,  to  the  perfect  reformation  of  a  life  of 
idleness,  drunkenness  and  vice. 

Let  it  further  be  observed,  that  did  this  institution 
barely  go  to  prevd  t,  in  the  rising  generation,  those 
shocking  examples  of  distortion  and  deformity,  so 
burdensome  to  the  public,  and  so  common  among 
the  poor,  as  to  meet  the  eye  and  affect  the  feelings  at 
every  turn  of  our  streets,  that  circumstance  alone 
would  be  sufficient  to  ensure  to  it  the  support  of  every 
man  with  common  humanity,  or  common  regard  to 
the  good  of  the  community. 

But  what  an  accession  of  strength  must  the  appeal 
to  you  still  receive,  when  you  retlect  on  the  almost 
incalculable  effect  in  the  preservation  of  life,  of  com- 
jajuuicating,  as  this  institution  does,  in  the  mostextou- 


201 

give  manner,  the  benefit  of  vaccine  inoculation  to 
the  children  of  the  poor,  throughout  the  metropolis 
and  its  environs ;  besides  transmitting,  for  the  same 
purpose,  the  matter  of  this  infection,  in  its  most  ac- 
tive and  perfect  state,  to  the  faculty  of  every  town  in 
the  nation  ?  As  to  its  being  an  infallible  preservative 
against  that  dreadful  pestilence,  the  natural  small- 
pox, which  has  so  long  thinned  and  afflicted  the 
world,  demonstration  is  the  proof.  For,  in  the  whole 
experience  of  the  institution,  and  the  Foundling  Hos- 
pital, in  the  course  of  which  thousands  and  thousands 
have  been  inoculated,  not  one  solitary  example  of 
the  contrary  has  occurred,  though  every  possible  ex- 
periment has  been  made  to  establish  the  fact  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community  and  mankind.  Nay,  such 
is  the  confidence  and  conviction  of  Mr.  Creighton, 
the  inoculator  of  immense  numbers,  that  children 
have  been  laid,  as  he  has  expressly  informed  me, 
with  perfect  security,  in  the  very  bed  with  those  who 
laboured  under  the  confluent  small-pox.  It  may  be 
important  here  to  observe,  that  the  great  discoverer, 
or,  at  least,  introducer  of  this  public  blessing,  relates 
several  cases  that  took  place  long  before  its  adoption 
in  medical  practice  was  dreamed  of,  and  which,  con- 
sequently, have  the  support  of  the  most  impartial 
testimony,  where  persons  in  the  dairy  counties  of 
England,  who  contracted  the  infection  when  young, 
by  milking  infected  animals,  were  afterwards  fre- 
quently exposed,  without  effect,  to  the  contagion  of 
the  small-pox ;  the  distance  of  time,  as  he  says,  be- 
tween the  first  infection  and  the  subsequent  attempts 
to  infect,  being  twenty,  thirty,  and  even  fifty  years. 


202 

Of  the  state  of  this  practice  in  England  I  need 
not  speak ;  it  being  now  universally  recurred  to,  and 
all  incredulity  on  that  subject  totally  done  away : 
as  well  from  the  candid  of  the  whole  faculty,  as  the 
most  decisive  and  uninterrupted  experience  of  its 
efficacy.  I  even  see  in  the  last  report  of  the  Jennerian 
Society,  that  so  large  a  sum  as  two  thousand  four 
hundred  and  ninety-seven  pounds  has  been  already 
collected  for  its  diffusion  among  the  poor.  Nor  can 
there,  I  trust,  under  God,  a  reasonable  doubt  be  en- 
tertained of  the  speedy  and  total  extirpation  in  both 
countries,  of  a  disorder,  perhaps  the  most  formidable, 
loathsome,  and  destructive  that  ever  scourged  the 
human  race.  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  lay  down 
the  precise  number  that  perished  annually  by  its 
ravages,  in  this  city  and  about  it,  as  no  bills  of  mor- 
tality appear.  But  when  we  consider,  that  much 
more  than  one  half  of  its  population  consists  of  wretch- 
ed families,  confined  to  single  rooms,  consequently 
without  the  means  of  insulating  infected  persons,  or, 
in  other  words,  of  preventing  the  spreading  of  conta- 
gion, whose  vehicle  is  not  merely  contact,  but  likewise 
breath  and  effluvia,  it  is  clear,  that  the  fatality  in  that 
way  must  have  been  immense,  as  well  as  most  de- 
plorable in  its  circumstances. 

Were  I  to  strike  an  average  from  the  little  dif- 
ference that  has  appeared  in  the  opinions  of  those 
whom  I  have  consulted,  1  should,  I  am  sure,  be 
much  below  the  mark  in  stating  it  at  six  or  seven 
thousand  annually,  within  the  metropolis  and  its  en- 
virons alone.     I  leave  you  therefore  to  decide,  my 


203 

brethren,  how  far  the  certain  remedy  to  such  an  evil, 
a  remedy  which  God  in  his  infinite  goodness  has 
revealed  to  the  world,  is  entitled  to  your  support. 

On  the  various  other  effects  of  this  great  institution 
I  have  already  sufficiently  dwelt.  You  will  recall 
them.  My  task  is  now  discharged.  With  respect 
to  yours  my  mind  is  perfectly  at  rest.  But,  what- 
ever the  event  may  be,  I  confidently  appeal  to  the 
inmost  soul  of  every  hearer  in  this  place,  whether, 
on  a  view  of  the  whole  case,  a  clearer  or  stronger 
claim  to  human  mercy  was  ever  preferred  in  or  out 
of  the  temple  of  God. 

To  me  it  owes  nothing  but  bare  statement ;  nor, 
in  the  course  of  sixteen  years  experience,  did  I  ever 
meet  any  occasion  but  this,  where  the  simple  subject 
superseded  the  necessity  of  attempting,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  left  me  without  power  to  convey 
the  feeling  it  inspired.  And  if  such  has  been  (as  I 
hope  for  divine  favour)  its  absolute  impression  on 
me,  what  must  it  be  on  you,  who  are  in  the  daily 
habits  of  giving  much  more  substantial  proof  of  what 
you  can  feel  in  the  cause  of  wretchedness?  And 
may  this  day  exhibit  a  glorious  proof,  that  though 
the  lives  of  God's  creatures  are  a  consideration  light 
as  air,  in  the  scale  of  restless  and  insatiable  ambi- 
tion, their  preservation  is  yet  the  dearest  and  most 
sacred  of  all  objects  to-  the  heart  of  true  religion  and 
humanity ! 


204 

And  now  to  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and 
God  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  for 
ever  and  ever.    Amen. 


MMK 


SERMON  IX. 


[For  St.  Werburg'a  Parish  School,  January  22,  1804.] 
Romans,  x.  3. 

For  I  bear  record  that  they  have  the  zeal  of  Godo 

* 

SUCH  is  the  principle,  my  brethren,  which  re- 
ligion displays  in  its  true  servants  ;  such  is  the  prin- 
ciple which  at  once  shames  our  indifference,  and 
spurs  us  to  a  noble  and  decided  interest  in  the  cause 
of  God ;  such  is  the  principle  which  laid  the  foun- 
dation and  raised  the  superstructure  of  Christianity, 
that  mighty  colossus,  which  still  rears  its  head  amidst 
the  ruins  of  empires,  the  revolution  of  ages,  and  tor- 
rent of  human  passions ! 

Zeal,  the  source  of  all  elevation  in  heaven  and 
earth  !  the  crown  and  consummation  of  righteousness, 
the  purest  emanation  of  love  !  Zeal,  that  raises  man 
above  himself;  strips  him  of  all  fear;  endues  him 
with  all  courage ;  burns  in  his  expressions,  and 
sparkles  in  his  life ;  bears  him  to  his  end  with  ir- 
resistible impetuosity ;  the  scourge  of  impiety  and 

2  e 


206 

disorder,  the  inflexible  pillar  of  religion  and  virtue ! 
Can  a  principle  so  sublime  be  compatible  with  the 
kindness  of  humanity? 

Yes,  my  brethren,  it  formed  the  character  of  Saint 
Paul,  the  man  chosen  by  God  to  waft  his  name  to 
the  extremities  of  the  earth.    Powerful  in  works  and 
word,  the  living  model  of  all  Christian  virtues ;  be- 
coming all  to  all  in  order  to  gain  all ;  full  of  bounty 
and  tenderness  to  the  weak  ;  terrible  to  those  whom 
no  remonstrance  could  reclaim  ;  without  elevation  in 
his  intercourse  with  the  simple  and  lowly  ;  dignified 
and  majestic  before  the  great ;  capable  of  enduring 
every  thing  for  the  faith ;  producing  by  bold   and 
unslackened  efforts  the  most  astonishing  revolutions 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  ;  fulminating  at  error 
when  it  was  sustained  by  all  the  various  and  fasci- 
nating superstition  of  idolatry,  all  the  subtleties  of  a 
vain  philosophy,  all  the  powers  of  eloquence,  all 
the  charms  of  poetry,  all  the  force  of  prejudice  and 
passion,  all  the  might  and  authority  of  the  Roman 
empire.     What  evils,  what  trials  did  he  not  encoun- 
ter in  the  prosecution  of  his  great  design  ?  Repeat- 
edly journeying  in  the  extreme  rigour  of  seasons, 
traversing  seas  in  the  midst  of  furious  tempests,  tra- 
duced before   tribunals,   confined  in  the  gloom  of 
dungeons,  scourged  like  the  vilest  malefactors ;  me- 
naced with  death  in  a  thousand  forms  :  at  last  seal- 
ing with  his  blood  that  glorious  cause  which  his  zeal 
had  impelled  him  so  gloriously  to  maintain  ! 


207 

During  a  course  of  several  centuries  the  same 
spirit  universally  prevailed  ;  from  the  noble  matron 
and  senator,  down  to  the  meanest  slave.  Zeal  formed 
a  chain,  every  link  of  which  was  equally  bright  and 
burnished.  Every  maxim  and  passion  of  the  world 
which  self-love  had  engendered,  and  ages  conse- 
crated, were  rigidly  banished  from  this  extraordinary 
society  of  men.  Love  and  charity,  the  most  un- 
bounded, were  its  soul ;  patience  and  meekness  its 
only  strength  ;  poverty,  abasement,  and  suffering,  its 
only  glory.  From  the  bosom  of  God  it  cast  an  eye 
on  the  universe,  of  deep  disdain,  at  the  rapid  wheel 
of  all  its  enterprises  and  allurements.  The  cruelty 
of  tyrants  became  fatigued  with  endless  victims, 
whose  ashes  emitted  sparks  to  feed  the  eternal  fire 
of  zeal ;  and  the  conception  of  mankind  stood  still 
at  the  appearance  of  fidelity  and  virtue,  morals  and 
sell-denial,  above  the  level  of  humanity ! 

Such  constancy  prompted  eagerness  of  inquiry 
into  their  source,  and  the  result  proved  most  glorious 
to  the  cause.  Its  abashed  enemies  and  persecutors 
yielded  to  the  irresistible  power  of  truth.  Religion 
finally  triumphed,  and  waved  its  banners  on  the  ruins 
of  idolatry  ;  and  the  world,  and  the  world's  master 
bowed  at  once  to  the  name  of  Christ ! 

Such  are  the  recorded  efforts  of  Christian  zeal. 
I  stop  not  to  examine  the  causes  of  the  succeeding, 
and  too  general  declension  from  that  great  principle. 
It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  the  misfortune  ex- 
ists.    Perhaps  the  destiny  of  the  Christian  world 


208 

hangs  this  moment  on  the  exercise  of  great  virtues 
within  the  bosom  of  this  single  empire.  0  that  it 
may  be  destined,  in  the  designs  of  God,  to  stop  the 
devouring  course  of  ambition  and  its  crimes,  and  co- 
ver the  cause  of  religion,  society,  and  human  nature, 
with  glory ! 

If  we  be  sincere  in  our  belief  and  profession  of  & 
divine  religion,  and  well  assured  in  its  power  of  re- 
gulating the  private  and  public  duties  of  men,  what 
motives  have  we  not  for  zeal  the  most  unbounded  iu 
its  support. 

Let  us  therefore  earnestly  invoke,  and  labour  to 
acquire  a  distinction  so  ail'ectingly  called  for,  sq 
powerful  in  its  operation,  and  so  inestimable,  as  you 
have  seen,  in  its  effects.  But  it  will  be  necessary 
to  distinguish  and  reflect  on  its  true  charaeteristicks, 
which  I  reduce  to  three.  First,  the  perfect  example 
of  a  Christian  life.  Secondly,  the  firm  resistance  of 
error.  Thirdly,  the  instruction  of  the  ignorant,  but 
particularly  the  young  and  friendless.  On  those  I 
shall  beg  leave  briefly  to  address  you. 

It  is  more  than  mockery,  my  brethren,  particularly 
hi  these  times,  to  make  a  parade  of  zeal  or  work, 
authority  for  the  interest  of  religion  and  virtue.  Un- 
less example  shine  in  the  van  to  prove  our  sincerity, 
nothing  else  can  or  will  ever  convince  an  ignorant  and 
dissolute  multitude,  that  iu  all  our  attempts  to  reform 
we  are  not  merely  playing  off  a  political  engine  for 
private  purposes. 


^09 

Zeal  without  practice  would  nearly  amount  to  say- 
ing to  offenders,  it  is  necessary  that  you  should  re- 
press your  passions  ;  that  you  should  serve  God  with 
fidelity  and  exactness  ;  appear  in  his  temples ;  bear 
his  law  in  your  hearts,  and  learn  to  know  that  an 
awful  responsibility  awaits  you,  in  order  that  those 
who  call  themselves  your  betters,  may  with  greater 
security  enjoy  the  reign  of  profaneness,  luxury,  prodi- 
gality and  vice.  Men  will  invariably  judge  of  the 
tree  by  its  fruits,  nor  ever  be  allured  to  duty  by  a 
zeal  that  carries  with  it  its  own  refutation. 

To  authorize  an  enterprise,  so  sacred  yet  so  deli- 
cate, as  that  of  reforming  others,  it  must  be  supported 
by  a  degree  of  regularity  and  merit,  at  least  equal  to 
that  which  we  exact. 

Many  are  the  lessons  which  our  blessed  Lord  has 
given  us  on  this  subject ;  but  one  remarkably  strong, 
in  the  case  of  the  woman  taken  in  adultery.  Though 
her  crime  was  manifest,  and  her  punishment  exactly 
laid  down,  it  yet  filled  his  just  soul  with  indignation, 
to  see  men  so  criminal  as  the  Pharisees,  the  slaves 
of  every  passion,  under  the  mask  of  extraordinary 
zeal,  standing  forward,  with  clamour  and  eagerness, 
to  avenge  the  violated  law.  He  therefore  answered 
them  in  a  way  not  to  palliate  the  offence,  but,  which 
strikingly  conveyed  the  indispensable  concomitant  of 
true  zeal ;  "  Let  the  man  who  is  without  sin  amongst 
#  you,  cast  the  first  stone  at  this  unfortunate  woman." 
A  decision  too  pointed  not  to  have  a  most  apt  and  a 
most  humiliating  effect.    For,  as  the  Evangelist  re- 


210 

ports,  they  retired  one  after  another  silent  and  con- 
founded. 

Hence  it  is  that  St.  Paul  exhorts  all  Christians  to 
prove  their  zeal  by  their  works.  But  peculiarly 
those  who,  being  bound  by  special  relations  or  en- 
gagements, to  answer  for  the  spiritual  improvement 
of  others,  derive  from  thence  a  double  and  terrible 
obligation  before  God,  of  applying,  above  all  things, 
to  their  own  perfection,  in  order  to  render  themselves 
capable  of  effectually  discharging  the  higher  duty 
imposed  on  them. 

Thus,  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  he  declares,  should 
be  exempt  from  the  very  shadow  of  stain.  Lest  pro- 
fligates appeal  from  their  instructions  to  their  morals, 
and  confound  them  with  the  reproach  of,  "  Physician, 
"  heal  thyself:"  a  reproach  which,  if  founded,  must 
strip  them  of  all  freedom  of  speech  in  the  delivery 
of  the  word  ;  or,  to  use  the  figure  of  Isaiah,  reduce 
them  to  the  condition  of  "  dumb  dogs  in  the  house  of 
"  the  Lord,"  tolerating  guilt,  and  trembling  before 
the  guilty.  It  is  true,  that  their  function  is  indepen- 
dent of  their  moral  character  ;  and,  according  to  the 
word  of  Christ,  from  the  moment  they  are  admitted 
to  the  chair  of  Moses,  we  are  to  receive  what  they 
teach  with  respect,  without  reflecting  on  what  they 
do.  But,  as  the  generality  of  men  are  neither  spi- 
ritual enough,  nor  equitable  enough  to  make  the  dis- 
tinction, they  will  easily  pass  from  the  contempt  of 
the  man,  to  the  contempt  of  his  doctrine. 


211 

There  is  in  the  human  heart  a  certain  perversity, 
or  obstinacy,  or  pride,  or  call  it  what  you  will,  that 
leads  us  to  look  with  eagle  eyes  into  the  character 
of  him  who,  under  the  appearance  of  zeal,  assumes 
the  liberty  of  controuling.  If  it  stand  not  the  test 
of  such  scrutiny,  at  least  in  material  points,  he  will 
labour  indeed  to  confirm  and  expose  his  own  shame, 
but  with  respect  to  his  object,  he  will  beat  the  air. 

It  is  precisely  the  folly  which  the  Scripture  has 
singled  out  as  the  most  extravagant,  that  of  building 
up  with  one  hand,  and  throwing  down  with  the  other. 
Not  to  say,  that  the  cause  itself  will  thereby  be  ex- 
posed to  more  than  dishonour :  for  such  is  the  ma- 
lignant ingenuity  of  unbelievers,  ever  watchful  to 
thicken  the  veil  over  the  destructive  consequences  of 
ttoeir  own  system,  that,  when  they  see  among  Chris- 
tians so  much  degeneracy,  such  love  of  the  world, 
such  ardor  for  pleasure  and  all  contemptible  vanities, 
and,  in  many  instances,  open  profligacy  of  manners, 
they  eagerly  take  occasion  from  thence  to  revile  and 
discredit  religion,  which,  in  the  face  of  its  boasted 
precepts  and  influence,  can  yet  exhibit  to  the  view 
of  mankind  the  most  scandalous  fruits. 

If  there  be  any  thing  directly  and  unpardonably 
against  reason  and  justice,  it  is  this.  For  as  the 
clearness  of  the  source  does  not  necessarily  preserve 
the  stream  from  contamination,  neither  can  religion, 
however  pure  and  celestial  its  laws  and  maxims,  be 
secure  in  all  cases,  from  violation.  It  is,  alas  !  but 
too  possible  to  believe  in  its  truths,  and  occasionally 


212 

tremble  and  hope,  as  we  look  to  i(s  judgments,  or 
the  glory  of  its  rewards,  while  the  weight  of  nature, 
and  the  ardour  of  passion,  confine  us  to  a  course  of 
disorder. 

But  though  to  confound  and  identify  religion  with 
its  abuse,  be  the  most  untenable  and  miserable  of  all 
imaginations,  and  therefore  the  clearest  evidence  of 
a  bad  cause,  it  is  unfortunately  too  specious  and 
plausible  a  thing  not  to  be  industriously  employed  to 
seduce  the  multitude,  whose  depravity,  perhaps,  more 
than  their  ignorance,  leads  them  readily  into  the 
snare. 

Nor  are  we  without  a  fatal  proof  in  another  nation, 
that  when  the  prevailing  state  of  morals,  in  all  orders, 
become  such  as  to  sink  religion  in  the  general  respect 
and  opinion,  its  enemies  experience  but  a  languid 
opposition  to  the  complete  accomplishment  of  its 
ruin. 

Of  all  the  pillars  of  society  thrown  down  by  the 
cruel  and  mighty  arm  of  anarchy,  the  church  and  its 
al(ars  are  covered  with  most  blood,  and  excite  the 
least  compassion  and  remorse.  Nothing  can,  there- 
fore, possibly  assist  us  more  in  furthering  the  pro- 
gress of  religion  and  virtue,  than  to  support  our  zeal 
by  personal  righteousness.  This  it  was  that  finally 
converted  even  the  most  furious  persecutors  of  Chris- 
tianity. Without  this,  did  we  possess  all  the  gifts 
which  the  Apostle  enumerates,  miracles,  tongues, 
philosophy,  kuowledge,  wisdom,  we  should  still  want 


213 

the  testimony  that  honours  our  profession  the  most^ 
and  most  proves  it  to  be  divine. 

The  next  characteristic  of  true  zeal,  is.,  the  firm 
resistance  of  error.  I  recollect  the  time  when,  in 
drawing  the  consequences  of  irreligion,  I  took  my 
hints  more  from  my  own  conceptions  than  from  ob- 
servation and  experience.  But  I  have  beheld,  with 
sorrow,  those  days  disappear,  and  give  place  to 
others,  unfortunately,  more  guilty. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  dwell  on  points  often 
brought  before  you,  in  this  very  place,  by  abler  men. 
But  if  every  colouring,  every  effort  that  indignant 
virtue  and  humanity  could  suggest,  have  already  beea 
employed  to  expose  the  direful  consequences  that 
have  flown  from  a  new  philosophy,  you  will  admit, 
that  God  alone  can  coerce  the  license  of  men,  too 
numerous  I  fear,  and  in  a  rank  of  life  that  ought  to 
induce  some  reserve,  at  least,  under  existing  circum- 
stances ;  who  yet  think,  and  speak,  and  dogmatize, 
and  love  to  display  their  genius  and  talents,  only  to 
sap  the  foundation  of  religion.  But  this  is  not  the 
hour  I  can  select  to  do  them  the  justice  they  deserve* 
May  they  live  to  regard,  with  horror,  the  praise  and 
incense  they  receive  from  their  deluded  associates, 
and  which  they  owe  only  to  the  gratitude  of  those 
passions,  whose  empire  they  toil  to  extend.  May 
they  live  to  know  that  system  better,  whose  chief 
crime  is,  in  their  eyes,  probably,  the  demand  of  too 
many  virtues ;  and  judge  at  last  which  of  the  two  is 
more  glorious,  the  zeal  that  labours  to  sanctify  the 

2D 


214 

earth,  or  the  fiend-like  occupation  of  seducing  and 
perverting  it. 

For,  my  brethren,  to  recollect  the  words  of  the 
royal  prophet,  "  I  hate  the  congregation  of  evil-doers, 
"  and  will  not  sit  with  the  impious,"  it  is  too  much 
the  practice  of  some  Christians  to  depart  from  this 
wise  maxim.  That  point,  that  raillery,  which  spares 
neither  sacred  nor  profane,  are  too  amusing,  have  too 
many  charms  to  be  excluded  from  the  intercourse  of 
life.  Nay,  it  is  more  than  probable,  that,  did  the 
Spirit  of  Darkness  appear  at  this  day,  in  the  shape 
of  a  man  of  wit,  that  his  sallies  against  the  heaven 
he  forfeited  would  be  heard  without  abhorrence,  nay. 
With  applause  and  admiration. 

Yet,  my  brethren,  many  a  Christian,  while  admi- 
ring the  brilliancy  of  the  weapons  which  impiety 
employs,  has  sustained,  without  perceiving  it,  an  in- 
curable wound.  Like  the  deluded  mariner,  who,  as 
fable  reports,  becoming  all  ear  to  the  song  of  the 
syren,  unhappily  overlooked  the  gulph  into  which  it 
was  intended  to  allure  him. 

Firm  principles  of  religion  may  defy  the  rude  and 
direct  assault  of  such  men,  as  the  noble  and  majestic, 
oak  defies  the  fury  of  the  storm;  but  like  it,  too  easily 
yields  to  the  deep  and  insidious  mine.  Against  the 
evil  that  stands  confessed  in  all  its  native  deformity, 
we  are  naturally  on  our  guard,  and  collect  all  our 
strength.     But  all  the  grace  and  inspirings  of  heaven 


215 

would  scarcely  be  sufficient  to  guard  against  the  art 
that  steals  us  insensibly  on  to  the  precipice. 

What  at  least  can  be  the  resource  of  youth,  urged 
on,  as  it  is,  by  the  love  of  independence,  and  all  the 
passions  in  their  vigor,  when  thus  exposed,  in  the 
contempt  of  principles,  that  have  scarcely  taken  root? 
The  result  is  ruin.  Religion  is  renounced  in  its 
dawn,  and  the  school  of  darkness  is  recruited,  from 
the  very  bosom  of  innocence  and  virtue. 

If  it  be  not  possible  in  all  cases  to  avoid  sitting 
with  the  impious ;  we  know  that  true  zeal  requires 
at  our  hands,  not  a  timid  or  silent  disapprobation  of 
the  assault  against  our  principles,  but  a  bold  and 
manly  defence  of  them,  in  the  face  of  all  consequen- 
ces, and  without  respect  of  persons.  Days  have  been, 
when  not  all  the  united  powers  of  hell  and  earth 
could  succeed  in  overwhelming  it.  The  reason  is 
obvious.  Every  Christian  was  then  a  model  of  what 
he  professed,  and  a  lion  in  its  defence :  always  rea- 
dy, always  panting  for  the  occasion  to  confound  his 
persecutors,  by  constancy  in  suffering,  and  perseve- 
rance in  death. 

The  form  but  not  the  substance  of  our  duty  is 
changed.  We  are  not  called  to  the  same  trials. 
The  blood  and  labour  of  our  first  brethren,  cemen- 
ted and  raised  the  mighty  structure  of  Christianity. 
But  the  inheritance  we  have  received,  we  are  bound, 
as  far  as  we  can,  intrepidly  to  guard,  and  faithfully 
to  transmit  to  our  children.    No  human  considera 


216 

iion  can  warrant  any  thing  like  parley  with  its  ene- 
mies ;  any  thing  like  connivance  at  the  open  or  en- 
veloped malignity  of  the  impious.  u  He  that  is  not 
f*  with  me  is  against  me,"  are  the  express  words  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Our  religion,  like  our  sovereign  and 
our  country,  demand  we  should  take  a  generous  and 
decided  part  in  its  support ;  no  middle,  no  monstrous 
compound  of  loyalty  and  disaffection,  scarce  less 
criminal  than  open  revolt,  certainly  more  base. 

The  Christian,  who  tamely  suffers  his  faith  to  be 
misrepresented  or  reviled,  must  be  heartily  despised 
by  the  reviler.  Zeal  is  not  zeal,  if  it  flame  not,  if  it 
know  any  bounds  at  such  a  moment.  Then  it  is, 
that  we  should  regard  no  man,  though  entrenched  up 
to  the  neck  in  all  the  trappings  of  human  importance. 
Forget  friends  and  connexions,  and  without  distinc- 
tion, all  who  presume  to  forget  the  reverence  due  to 
the  sacred  character  we  bear  ! 

This  is  the  indispensable  duty  of  all  Christians, 
but  more  especially  of  the  great.  They  cannot  be 
ignorant  that  their  countenance  of  religion  is  a  tower 
of  strength.  They  know  too  well  the  happy  or  de- 
structive influence  of  their  moral  character,  not  to  be 
equally  sensible,  that,  according  as  they  are  zealous, 
or  otherwise,  in  the  resistance  of  impiety,  to  that  de- 
gree shall  the  detested  principle  decline  or  prosper. 

Persons  in  an  humbler  sphere  can  do  little  com- 
parative good  or  mischief,  by  their  example.  With- 
drawn from  the  fixed  attention  of  the  world,  whether 


217 

they  stand  or  fall,  the  consequence  is  nearly  confined 
to  themselves.  They  do  but  edify  or  infect,  I  may 
say,  within  the  reach  of  their  rooms.  But  from 
those,  whom  God  has  placed  on  the  eminence,  must 
the  cause  of  religion  or  morals  receive,  in  the  very 
nature  of  things,  its  most  operative  support  or  dead- 
liest wounds.  Yes,  my  brethren,  it  is  verified  by  all 
experience,  that  when  the  naturally  imposing  dis- 
tinction of  high  rank  is  blended  with  the  nobler  dis- 
tinction of  acknowledged  piety,  one  word,  nay  one 
look  of  rebuke  from  such  a  quarter,  will  do  more  to 
arrest  the  impudent  and  audacious  sallies  of  impiety, 
than  the  utmost  efforts  of  zeal  in  inferior  Christians. 
It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  look  up  for  his  model. 
And  so  imperious  and  indisputable  is  the  sway  of 
high  example,  that  he  will  often  counterfeit  virtues 
to  which  he  is  a  stranger,  and  vices  which  he  detests. 

To  the  ministry  I  need  not  appeal  in  this  case. 
If  indifference  in  other  Christians  would  be  criminal, 
as  I  have  represented  it,  in  men  set  apart  to  encounter 
every  thing  in  the  cause,  it  would  be,  in  the  last 
degree,  perfidy  and  guilt.  It  is  theirs,  on  all  occa- 
sions, to  stand  forward  and  resist  impiety  as  a  wall 
of  brass.  ?Tis  theirs,  in  and  out  of  the  temple  of 
God,  to  prevent  the  ruin  of  the  unwary  and  less  in- 
structed, by  boldly  unmasking  the  impositions  that 
would  delude  them,  and  confounding  them  witfe 
their  own  portraits.  This  their  superior  informa- 
tion, or  nature  of  their  education  must  enable  them 
triumphantly  to  do.  This  ought  to  be  their  glory. 
For  if  any  thing  under  heaven  can  approximate  the 


218 

human  character  to  the  divine,  it  is  the  dedication 
of  life  and  talents  to  the  diffusion  of  truth  and  virtue 
among  men. 

The  third  characteristic  of  true  zeal  is,  the  in- 
struction of  all  ignorance,  but  peculiarly  the  young 
and  friendless.  To  these  I  confine  myself.  It 
would  be  superfluous  to  dwell  on  the  effects  of  such 
instruction.  There  is  no  point,  of  any  interest  to 
man,  better  ascertained,  or  more  universally  admit- 
ted, than  the  power  of  right  and  early  culture,  in 
forming  his  mind  to  every  thing  that  is  good  and 
great.  Even  heathen  republics  have  borne  indubi- 
table evidence,  that,  by  strict  attention  to  this  object, 
virtue  the  most  rigid,  as  well  as  piety  the  most  in- 
violable, can  be  the  distinction  of  every  citizen  in 
a  nation. 

If  cases  too  often  occur  amongst  us,  where  the 
virtues  implanted  in  infancy  are  effaced  by  the  vices 
of  youth,  I  will  venture  to  affirm,  that  such  mis- 
fortune is  less  the  result  of  natural  corruption  or  evil 
contagion  than  of  education,  falsely  called  Christian; 
in  which  every  thing  is  more  attended  to  than  the 
main  point :  the  superficial  tincture  of  religion,  and 
the  virtues  not  employed  as  they  ought.  This  has 
been  long  and  notoriously  the  character  of  modern 
education,  and,  perhaps,  the  true  source  of  all  our 
degeneracy. 

iHs  not  pretended,  that  the  very  best  and  deepest 
impressions  communicated  at  that  season  have  in- 


219 

fallible  issues.  For,  there  is  no  degree  of  Christian 
rectitude,  that  may  not,  in  its  conflict  with  sudden  and 
extraordinary  temptations,  pay  a  tribute  to  human 
frailty.  But  the  chance  is  immense,  that  the  child, 
who  is  trained  in  the  way  he  should  go,  will  not 
materially  depart  from  it  in  a  maturer  age  ;  or,  if  he 
should,  that  his  recovery  will  nearly  be  as  certain 
as  his  fall :  like  the  bended  tree,  Which  flies  vigor- 
ously back  to  its  upright  and  natural  position,  when 
the  force  that  restrained  it  is  relaxed.  Confirmed 
virtue,  though  it  may  yield  to  force  or  surprise  of 
passion,  will,  when  the  moment  of  freedom  and  re- 
collection comes,  eagerly  aspire  to  its  former  dignity 
and  elevation. 

Such  is  the  invariable  result  of  good  principles, 
when  once  profoundly  seated  in  the  soul.  To  the 
victim  of  neglected  education  alone  belongs  that  in- 
vulnerable peace,  that  hardihood  in  iniquity,  to  the 
last  of  which  we  have  recently  had  the  most  affecting 
and  shocking  public  examples  in  this  metropolis; 
examples  that  proclaim,  with  miraculous  organs, 
the  mercy  of  mercies  you  are  now  assembled  to  ex- 
ercise. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  depreciate  past  efforts  in  this 
cause.  But,  while  the  ministry  have  understanding 
to  conceive,  and  zeal  to  feel  all  the  present  necessity 
of  the  object,  it  is  impossible  they  should  cease  cry- 
ing aloud,  for  the  revival  of  a  principle  that  will 
give  us  to  know,  by  personal  experience,  what  sa- 
crifices it  is  capable  of. 


220 

Blessed  be  God,  I  already  see  the  promise  of  such 
a  principle.  I  see  religion,  in  the  better  orders,  be- 
ginning to  wear  its  ancient  honours.  I  see,  in  ge- 
neral, amongst  Christians,  more  seriousness  of  cha- 
racter, more  respect  for  religious  duties,  more  pride, 
more  confidence  in  avowing  their  principles,  and  the 
influence  of  those  principles  on  their  manners  and 
deportment.  I  see  libertinism  and  impiety  more 
abashed,  and  the  mute  eloquence  of  high  examples, 
drawing  men,  at  this  day,  to  the  public  worship  of 
God,  to  whom  the  very  way  to  his  temples  was  un- 
known. I  see  magistracy,  and  all  its  authorities, 
laborious  and  vigilant  to  rescue  the  day  of  the  Lord 
from  wicked  and  scandalous  profanation,  and  zeal- 
ously striking  at  all  sources  of  popular  crimes  and 
disorders. 

In  a  word,  my  brethren,  we  have  profited  by  ca- 
lamity. The  repeated  pressure  of  divine  visitation 
hath  forced  even  the  most  indifferent,  perhaps  num- 
bers of  the  most  dissolute,  to  serious  reflection  on  a 
great  interest.  Marvellous  are  the  mercies  of  God ! 
and  innumerable  the  ways  of  that  mercy,  in  re- 
calling his  revolted  creatures  to  a  sense  of  what  they 
owe  him.  Happy  revolution !  It  gives  me  more 
than  hope,  that  Christians  will  feel  to  the  utmost, 
the  unparalleled  foundation  they  have  for  all  that 
true  zeal  can  achieve  in  this  cause. 

I  decline  the  detail  of  them,  as  perhaps  foreign 
from  the  pulpit.  Too  minutely,  alas  !  are  we  all 
acquainted  with  those  shocking  and  alarming  con- 


221 

trasts  to  every  virtue  divine  and  human,  which  God 
has  suffered  in  the  bosom  of  our  society  for  some 
years  back,  perhaps  in  views  of  mercy  to  the  un- 
born ;  to  say  nothing  of  a  recent  paroxysm  of  most 
sanguinary  folly  displayed  in  the  very  seat  of  gov- 
ernment. 

But  if  ever  humanity  have  led  us  to  feel  for  a  pure 
and  friendless  generation,  if  ever  a  faithful  picture 
of  its  rights  and  woes,  drawn  from  the  chair  of  truth,, 
have  proved  to  ourselves  and  the  wide  world  that  we 
have  hearts,  the  zeal  of  God  will  teach  us  more.  It 
will  teach  us,  that  even  life  would  be  well  bestowed 
to  rescue  innocence  from  the  infection  of  the  day  in 
which  it  lives  :  it  will  lead  us  into  the  temple  of 
God  on  those  occasions,  not  with  a  passing  senti- 
ment of  pity  alone  for  the  misery  before  us,  but  with 
a  firm  and  steady  eye  to  the  general  object  of  it  $ 
looking  at  such  affliction  as  God  himself  might  be 
supposed  to  look  at  the  paramount  want  of  our 
wretched  people ;  and  proving,  by  the  sublimity  of 
our  efforts,  our  irrevocable  conviction,  that  their  in- 
struction is  the  only  remedy  against  evils  that  have 
nearly  cut  us  out  from  the  circle  of  Christianity  and 
civilization,  and  justly  rendered  us  the  reproach  of 

?  the  world.  Merciful  God  !  why  is  it  not  given  me 
to  transfuse  all  I  feel  on  this  awful  subject  ?  When 

8  shall  the  glorious  sun  of  religion,  nearly  suuk  be- 
neath the  horizon,  by  the  degeneracy  of  uninstructed 
Christians,  and  the  force  of  popular  iniquity^  again 
dart  its  rays  from  the  meridian,  to  light  our  Israel  in 
the  long-forgotten  paths  of  virtue  and  of  peace? 


222 

When  shall  tranquillity  not  forced,  and  harmony, 
and  order,  and  blessed  brotherhood,  and  union,  and 
willing  submission  to  laws  and  authorities,  and  clear 
insight  into  the  just  and  unavoidable  inequalities  of 
conditions,  and  universal  sense  of  the  various  bles- 
sings to  be  enjoyed  under  the  purest  and  mildest  of 
all  rule,  prevail  ?  In  a  word,  the  horror  of  all  crimes, 
the  knowledge  of  all  virtues,  give  a  title  to  exclaim, 
as  Balaam  before  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  "  How 
u  goodly  are  thy  tents,  0  Jacob,  and  thy  tabernacles, 
"  O  Israel !" 

This  is  the  delectable  sense,  which  deep  and  ge- 
neral sentiments  of  religion  would  produce;  and 
which  I  am  persuaded,  as  I  am  of  my  being,  the 
very  charity  of  the  nation  would,  in  a  great  degree, 
be  competent  to  realize,  and  that  at  no  distant  pe- 
riod, were  Christians  influenced  to  great  things  bf 
the  true  zeal  of  God. 

Nay,  had  we  no  other  spur  in  this  cause,  but  our 
bare  interest  as  citizens,  there  is  no  sacrifice  under 
heaven,  which  it  should  not  extort  in  times  like  the 
present.  Foi>  better  were  the  return  to  a  state  of 
nature,  than  to  live,  or  entail  on  our  posterity  the 
curse  of  living,  as  we  do,  trembling,  divided,  and 
unblest  amid  the  ties  and  blessings  of  civilization 
and  religion. 


The  energies  prompted  by  public  spirit  and  self- 
preservation  may  stop  the  torrent  of  crimes,  and  con- 
fine treason  to  its  den.     But  the  diffused  knowledge 


223 

and  fear  of  God  alone  can  strike  at  the  source,  and 
give  universality  to  those  virtues  that  ensure  felicity 
to  man  and  to  society  in  this  mortal  state. 

One  word  more,  my  brethren.  I  have  appealed 
this  day  to  a  great  Christian  principle.  And  never, 
I  can  safely  say,  during  a  practice  of  seventeen 
years  as  an  advocate  of  such  objects,  did  I  look  with 
more  confidence  to  the  event.  Let  me  further  con- 
jure you  to  reflect,  that  if  the  mighty  and  invincible 
arm  of  Him,  whose  nod  can  resolve  the  universe 
into  its  elements,  hath  hitherto  sensibly  shielded  us 
from  a  fate,  which,  your  own  reflections  will  more 
powerfully  and  feelingly  represent  than  mine ;  even 
one  great  evidence  of  your  zeal  in  this  cause  would 
be  of  greater  virtue  in  his  sight,  than  all  the  solem- 
nity of  luxurious  fastings  and  empty  thanksgivings. 

However  allowable,  and  perhaps  fruitful  an  ap- 
peal to  your  humanity  would  be,  I  look  up  to  God, 
and  decline  it.  The  pulpit  at  this  day  cannot  be 
too  Christian.  Not  even  the  female  portion  of  these 
infants,  well  acquainted  as  I  am  with  their  power 
to  draw  mercy  in  extraordinary  profusion,  shall 
tempt  me  to  betray  a  distrust  of  your  zeal,  the  only 
sentiment  that  can  produce  efforts  proportioned  to 
the  present  calamities  of  virtue  and  religion. 

I  should  deem  it,  however,  an  unpardonable  of- 
fence before  God,  did  I  quit  this  place,  without  men- 
tioning a  circumstance,  probably  unknown  to  many 
Christians  who  hear  me  ;  namely,  that  twenty  male 


224 

children  before  us,  do  not  enjoy  the  full  advantage 
of  this  institution.  They  are  merely  clothed  and 
educated,  not  sheltered,  not  secluded  from  the  evils 
of  the  day;  not  fed!  If  this  unhappy  distinction 
once  produced  in  this  very  church  a  prompt  and 
most  merciful  sense  of  it,  why  not  again2  why  not 
now,  that  it  is  rendered  doubly  lamentable  by  the 
colour  of  the  example  abroad  ?  Am  I  to  consider 
myself  precluded  from  deploring  such  an  evil,  be- 
cause J  once  bad  the  happiness  of  doing  so,  in  this 
very  place,  with  extraordinary  success ;  since  no 
human  ability  could  devise  any  thing  more  cal- 
culated to  act  on  Christians  than  the  motives  I  have 
laid  before  you.  If  you  would  teach  the  pulpit  more 
reserve,  it  must  not  be  by  a  display  of  your  virtues ; 
the  more  evidence  of  that  nature  you  afford,  the  more 
Insatiable  ^ou  will  find  its  ministers. 

As  long  as  I  possess  the  power  of  utterance,  I 
shall  conceive  it  a  sacred  duty  to  conjure  attention 
to  this  case  wherever  1  find  it.  What  need  I  speak 
of  the  genera)  inefjicaey  of  instruction  unaccompa- 
nied by  seclusion  from  bad  example  ?  It  is  precisely, 
as  I  said  before,  throwing  down  with  one  hand  what 
we  build  with  the  other.  It  is  paying  a  price  for 
$he  most  afflicting  experience.  It  is  merely  taking 
pains  to  render  the  perversion  of  children  the  more 
opprobrious  to  religion,  and  more  dangerous  to  the 
community,  by  the  lights  they  receive.  It  is  justify, 
ing  the  objections  that  are  made  against  the  rational 
growth  pf  the  poorer  classes,  by  communicating  the 


225 

talent  of  reading,  without  the  only  security  that  can 
exist  against  its  abuse. 

But  what  need  I  say  more  on  this  point?  There 
never  can  be  one  reasonable  hope  entertained  of  a 
child  passing  daily,  with  any  thing  like  safety,  even 
from  the  best  lessons  of  piety  and  morals,  into  the 
bosom  of  example,  perhaps,  the  most  infernal.  The 
very  care  that  we  take,  or  confess  that  we  ought  to 
take,  in  cutting  off  our  own  children  from  all  inter- 
course  with  the  profligate,  is  a  proof  that  our  con- 
viction on  the  subject  is  decided.  Shall  we  then, 
my  brethren,  shall  an  assemby  so  vast,  so  equal 
to  great  efforts,  not  provide  against  an  extremity 
so  fatal?  Shall  these  unhappy  boys  merely  be 
brought  to  droop  at  the  view  of  a  blessing  not  des- 
tined for  them ;  confined,  like  criminals,  to  the 
porch  of  the  temple  ?  Shall  the  zeal  of  God  not  give 
them  entrance  into  the  sanctuary  ?  Is  it  but  one  no- 
ble and  true  Christian  exertion,  and  you  seal  the 
present,  probably  the  everlasting  happiness  of  crea- 
tures already  half  within  your  bosoms.  It  is  not  to 
their  natural  protectors,  that  is,  the  inhabitants  of 
this  parish,  I  would  be  thought  peculiarly  to  address 
myself,  but  to  all  good  and  feeling  Christians  before 
me.  Every  difference  of  obligation  is  lost  in  the 
magnitude  of  the  case.  I  have  sometimes,  I  con- 
fess, felt  sby,  if  I  may  use  the  term,  in  recommen- 
ding additional  burdens  in  poor  parishes.  But  I 
have  sometimes  done  so,  and  multitudes  instantly 
pushed  forward  to  undertake  them ;  and  all  doubt 
of  persevering  support  from  the  public  was  refuted 


p  ' 

226 

by  the  event.  But  this  is  the  day  of  superior  vir- 
tues, as  it  is,  unfortunately,  of  superior  crimes  :  and 
it  would  be  the  last  insult  I  could  offer  to  the  zeal 
of  Christians,  not  to  exact,  were  it  necessary,  the 
humblest  mite  in  support  of  a  divine  religion  ,  and, 
I  might  almost  say,  its  diviner  consequences. 

I  leave  you,  my  brethren.  Remember  the  gene- 
ral object.  Remember,  these  female  innocents.  Re- 
member peculiarly  the  case  of  these  unhappy  boys. 
And  may  I  be  greatly  justified,  at  the  expiration  of 
this  hour,  in  saying  with  the  Apostle,  "  I  bear  record 
"  that  they  have  the  zeal  of  God." 

And  now  to  God  the  Father,  and  God  the  Son, 
and  God  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honor  and  glory, 
fbr  ever  and  ever.    Amen. 


SERMON  X. 


' 


(Tor  the  Poor  Children  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Nicholas  Without  J 

Psalm,  xvm.  v.  30. 

Jls  for  God  his  way  is  perfect :  he  is  a  buckler  id 
all  those  that  trust  in  him. 

I  MUST  be  dead  to  every  great  and  sublime 
emotion,  if  the  prospect  that  meets  my  eye  at  this 
moment  were  incapable  of  exciting  such  a  sentiment 
in  my  soul ;  if  I  could  look  round  me  in  this  church, 
and  behold  so  vast  a  multitude  of  every  sex  and  con- 
dition voluntarily  assembled  and  confounded  before 
the  face  of  the  most  high  God  5  and  not  glory  in  the 
triumph  of  religion,  over  the  powers  of  darkness  and 
spirit  of  the  world. 


Oh,  my  friends,  what  an  incontestable  evidence 
do  you  this  day  afford,  that  a  respect  for  heaven  is 
at  bottom,  at  least  the  ruling  principle  in  every  heart; 
that  though  the  world  and  its  caves  may  agitate  and 
engross  us,  though  passion  may  bow  us  down  to  a 
Variety  of  idols,  still  a  proud  hour  will  sometimes 
proclaim  that  virtue  alone  is  amiable,  and  God  alone 
is  great. 


228 

My  friends,  I  have  many,  and,  as  I  conceive,  se- 
rious and  important  considerations,  to  press  on  you* 
Mostf  solemnly  do  I  declare,  that  if  ever,  at  any  in- 
stant of  my  life,  I  have  regretted  the  want  of  superior 
powers,  if  ever  I  have  panted  to  possess  that  ardent 
and  victorious  language,  which  penetrates  and  in- 
flames the  heart,  it  is  at  the  moment  I  stand  before 
you :  it  is  now  when  every  hour  seems  more  and 
more  to  point  out  the  necessity,  manifest  as  it  is 
awful;  of  improving  our  title  to  the  divine  protection. 

My  design  is  not  to  animate  your  patriotism  ;  nor 
is  it  perhaps  in  strictness  the  province  of  the  minis- 
try. Be  that  as  it  may,  the  task  happily  is  unne- 
cessary. Were  the  case  otherwise,  I  certainly 
should  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  use  every  effort  of 
my  soul,  in  strengthening  and  exciting  such  a  sen- 
timent among  you.  Happily  however  the  case  is 
otherwise.  It  is  not  necessary.  Your  attachment 
to  the  common  cause  is  fervent  and  unquestionable, 
and,  I  trust  universal,  from  the  cottage  to  the  throne. 
Or  if  I  be  deceived,  if  it  were  possible  there  could 
lurk,  at  this  awful  crisis,  under  the  present  aspect 
of  things,  any  remnant  of  treason  or  disaffection, 
thank  God  it  is  doomed  to  droop  its  head  5  doomed 
to  behold  a  spirit  that  speaks  daggers  to  its  hopes, 
and  like  spots  on  the  glorious  disc  of  the  sun,  to  be 
overwhelmed  in  a  wide  and  extended  blaze  of  loy- 
alty and  public  virtue. 

Basely  insensible  and  undeserving  would  we  be 
indeed  of  all  the  blessings  we  enjoy,  if  every  object 


229 

that  is  loved  and  revered  by  man,  his  domestic 
peace,  his  freedom,  his  altars,  his  country,  his  prince, 
would  not  rally  us  around  them  in  the  moment  of 
their  danger ;  or  if  one  common  impulse  of  horror 
were  not  sufficient  to  nerve  every  arm,  when  refiners 
on  all  cruelty,  and  harbingers  of  all  chaos  would 
add  us  to  the  train  of  their  innumerable  victims. 

No !  not  to  glow  and  unite  on  such  ground  is 
surely  out  of  nature.  Did  we  live  under  the  most 
abominable  despotism  that  ever  set  its  foot  on  the 
neck  of  a  people,  instead  of  the  mildest  and  wisest 
of  all  systems,  who  would  exchange  his  lot,  bitter 
as  it  might  he,  for  an  eternity  of  such  liberty  as 
turns  man  into  a  monster  ? 

But  I  am  going  out  of  my  course.  All  I  will  say 
farther  on  the  truly  noble  and  heroic  ardor  you  dis- 
play at  this  portentous  crisis  is,  that  if  the  arm  of 
flesh  would  protect  you  Without  God,  you  stand 
upon  a  rock,  which  a  bloody  and  ferocious  horde 
might  assail  without  impression.  Depend  on  it, 
however,  if  there  be  any  truth  uuder  the  sun  better 
confirmed  than  all  others,  it  is  this,  that  there  sits 
enthroned  on  the  top  of  all  creation,  a  treinetulously 
jealous,  and  inscrutably  overruling  Being,  who  can 
counteract  the  best  concerted  enterprizes  of  man  ; 
whose  invisible  agency  determines  the  issue  of  all 
human  events  ;  who  has  often  proved,  that  he  can 
be  weary  of  long  patience  ;  and  who  is  terrible  when 
he  awakes  to  scatter  judgments  and  afflictions  over 
a  guilty  world. 

2  F 


230 

JSow  then  is  our  time  to  conciliate  him,  while,  I 
may  say,  he  seems  to  waver  5  while  yet  he  seems  to 
view  us  with  predominating  tenderness  !  Now  is 
our  time  to  humble  ourselves  to  the  dust  before  him ; 
to  avow  and  deplore  our  many  and  grievous  offences, 
and  adopt  a  resolution  that  may  eventually  avert  the 
calamities  of  a  nation. 

Let  us  not  flatter  ourselves  with  the  unconditional 
hope  of  one  moment's  security.  The  records  of  our 
religion,  and  the  whole  history  of  man  are  against 
us.  Though  every  being  in  the  nation  possessed  the 
nerve  and  daring  of  au  Achilles,  and  were  equally 
invulnerable,  our  efforts  would  be  vain,  should 
Heaven  mark  us  out  as  the  victims  of  its  insulted 
justice. 

Beware  then,  lest  "a  scourge  come  upon  you9 
"  mighty  and  without  number;  whose  teeth  are  as 
"the  teeth  of  a  lion;  a  fire  devoureth  before  them, 
"and  a  flame  burnetii  after  them.  Your  land  is 
"now  as  the  garden  of  Eden,  and  behind  them  it 
"  shall  become  as  a  desolate  wilderness"  Too  ex- 
act a  portrait  is  this,  of  the  demons  you  have  to  deal 
with  ;  and  such  was,  in  part,  the  awful  admonition 
which  a  merciful  and  long-suffering  Father  addres- 
I  to  Israel,  when  the  cup  of  its  iniquities  was  full, 
and  the  example  of  vice  and  irreligion  in  the  great, 
came  to  countenance  and  uphold  the  abominations  of 
the  people. 


231 

Let  us  then,  I  repeat,  for  the  last  time,  honestly 
take  ourselves  to  account ;  honestly  lay  our  hands 
to  our  bosoms,  and  ask  these,  how  far  we  have  de- 
served the  divine  protection  against  the  demons  that 
are  abroad  ;  and  by  what  means,  and  what  means 
alone,  we  may  effectually  ensure  it?  This  is  the 
business,  to  which  I  would  lead  you,  and  which  shall 
constitute  the  sequel  of  this  discourse. 

If  I  did  not  go  into  the  proofs  of  an  all-controuling 
Providence  ;  if  I  did  not  shew  that  it  is  founded  on 
the  first  principles  of  reason;  nor  have  brought  for- 
ward, in  support  of  it,  that  vast  and  mournful  body 
of  evidence  which  the  Scriptures  and  all  history 
afford,  it  is  because  a  most  able  effort  from  this  pul- 
pit has  precluded  the  necessity  of  my  doing  so.  I 
allude  to  a  sermon  preached  before  you  on  the  8th 
of  January,  and  which  you  all  have,  or  ought  at 
least  to  have,  in  your  hands. 

I  shall,  for  the  sake  of  order,  divide  what  I  have 
to  speak  of  into  heads.  First,  the  growing  disposi- 
tion to  infidelity  among  men.  Secondly,  the  equally 
manifest  decay  of  piety  and  morals  among  those  who 
still  profess  to  believe.  I  trust,  however  foreign  the 
description  of  such  matters  may  appear  to  the  par 
ticular  object  for  which  we  are  assembled,  it  will 
tend,  notwithstanding,  strongly  to  promote  it.  You 
are  fatigued  by  constant  appeals  to  your  compassion- 
Most  intimately  persuaded  am  I,  that  the  cause  of 
popular  education  in  this  country  will  never 
thoroughly  prosper,  unless  by  strenuous  and  uncea^ 


232 

ing  efforts  of  the  ministry,  to  light  up  the  flame  of  true 
religion  in  your  souls. 

Constitutional  sensibility  you  have ;  and  when 
properly  excited,  it  does  much  :  but  to  reckon  on 
a  sentiment,  which  every  object  you  pursue  is  up  in 
arms  to  keep  down,  and,  consequently,  which  can 
emit  no  abundance  of  sparks,  unless  it  be  inflamed 
and  assaulted  like  a  bar  of  iron  in  a  forge.  No,  it 
is  a  forlorn  hope.  But  give  me  to  see  you  once 
raised  to  the  glorious  distinction  of  Christians, 
trampling  on  the  world  and  its  allurements;  joining 
to  the  force  of  nature,  the  love  and  dread  of  your 
God ;  impressed  with  a  conviction  of  future  respon- 
sibility :  then,  and  only  then,  will  I  say  to  the 
friendless  orphans  of  this  nation,  your  Messiah  is 
come. 

First  then,  I  ask  if  it  can  be  doubted,  that  the 
mortal  poison  of  infidelity  is  rapidly  gaining  ground  ? 
Can  it  be  doubted,  that  the  most  sacred  truths  of 
Christianity  are,  in  too  many  instances,  scouted  with- 
out reserve,  and  delivered  over  to  scorn  ?  Is  there 
scarcely  a  young  man,  at  the  present  day,  in  that 
class  of  the  world  which  is  honoured  with  the  name 
of  fashionable,  who  professes  to  believe  any  thing 
on  the  score  of  religion  ?  Is  it  not  too  much  the 
reigning  tone  among  men,  to  rise  superior  to  the 
weakness  and  simplicity  of  believing  Christians  ? 

What  minister  of  religion  can  now  venture  to 
preach  on  the  subject  of  our  holy  mysteries,  or  en- 


233 

force  their  divine  authority,  without  exciting  a  phi- 
losophic  smile  in  these  children  of  light  ?  Who  shall 
even  glance  at  the  doctrine  of  eternal  punishment,  or 
of  future  punishment  at  all,  without  being  openly 
pitied  for  his  credulity,  or  secretly  arraigned  for 
hypocrisy  ? 

Is  it  not  this  predominating  character  of  the  day 
that  has  forced,  in  a  manner,  the  pulpit,  in  spite  of 
itself,  to  slur  over  the  awful  and  tremendous  in  re- 
ligion, and  recur  to  topics  as  suited  to  the  portico, 
as  to  the  temple  of  Jesus  Christ?  What  does  there 
too  generally  appear  to  be  left  of  religion  among 
many  men,  but  a  sentiment  common  to  enlightened 
heathens;  namely,  a  political  respect  for  its  influence 
in  restraining  the  vulgar?  And  how  soon  might  it 
expire  under  open  insult  and  contempt,  if,  like  oil 
on  troubled  waters,  it  did  not  help  to  promote  the 
tranquillity  of  the  commonwealth  ? 

How  many  among  us  who  most  cordially  detest 
the  political  principles  of  Paine,  are  as  cordially 
with  him  in  every  line  of  his  Age  of  Reason  ?  And 
perhaps,  were  we  to  take  the  trouble  to  ascertain 
which  had  been  read  most,  that  blasphemous  attack 
on  Revelation,  or  the  masterly  refutation  of  it  by  a 
Christian  prelate,  it  would  be  found,  that  the  one  had 
been  generally  and  greedily  devoured,  while  the 
other  was  scarcely  known,  or  cast  aside  with  con 
tempt* 


234 

That  there  are  men  who,  raging  to  pull  down  the 
venerable  temple  of  our  constitution,  and  erect  on 
its  ruins  the  bloody  standard  of  French  liberty,  have 
recurred  to  infidelity  as  one  of  the  engines,  is  clear ; 
since  it  is  well  known  with  what  indefatigable  in- 
dustry, the  very  worst  species  of  it  has  been  diffused 
among  the  deople  in  the  circulation  of  the  work  I 
have  alluded  to,  which  was  sold  and  dispersed 
through  the  provinces  in  editions  so  cheap  as  a  penny 
a  book. 

Need  I  mention  that  execrable  soeiety  which  ex- 
isted in  the  very  heart  of  the  metropolis,  in  the  year 
ninety-five,  in  which  open  and  avowed  treason 
against  the  state  was  supported  by  such  language 
against  heaven  and  religion,  as  can  scarcely  be  con- 
ceived possible  in  any  extremity  of  mental  delirium, 
and  certainly  not  thought  of  without  a  feeling  of 
unutterable  horror? 

I  say  nothing  on  this  head  but  what  the  public 
are  in  possession  of,  from  the  evidence  and  confession 
of  those  deluded  young  men.  But,  Great  God ! 
whence  arises  that  almost  general,  if  not  equal  pro- 
pensity to  detract  from  the  principles  of  Christianity, 
in  those  who  are  not  blinded  and  impelled  by  the 
same  furious  motives  ? 

Christianity,  the  source  of  every  private  and  pul 
lie  virtue,  and,  if  it  be  not  a  fable,  so  absolutely  de- 
cisive of  our  destiny  for  ever !  Surely  on  a  point  so 


235 

important,  it  is  wisdom  to  use  some  caution  and  de- 
liberation, to  look  before  we  venture  on  so  dangerous 
a  leap ! 

But  to  reject  truths  of  the  strongest  evidence, 
merely  for  the  glory  of  rejecting  them ;  to  reject 
without  inquiry  a  system,  which,  like  a  rock  in  the 
midst  of  the  deep,  has  stood  the  beat  of  all  tempests 
and  torrent  of  ages ;  or,  to  use  no  other  arms  against 
it,  but  a  set  of  common-place  worn  out  difficulties, 
that  tremble  from  old  age  and  caducity,  a  thousand 
times  advanced,  and  a  thousand  times  refuted ;  not 
to  be  able  to  support  the  infidelity  they  adopt,  or 
prove  the  falsehood  of  the  faith  they  abjure  :  and 
in  this  state  of  shameful  inconsistency,  yet  pretended 
conviction,  gaily  and  proudly  to  advance  on  a  tre- 
mendous eternity  ! 

If  such  be  the  mark  of  superior  understanding,  or 
even  of  common  sense,  then  I  wish  to  be  informed 
what  it  is  that  constitutes  imbecility  or  phrenzy ! 

My  friends,  the  great  source  of  infidelity  is  not  in 
the  understanding  of  man;  it  is  in  the  pride  and  cor- 
ruption of  his  heart.  Well  has  the  prophet  compared 
the  impious  man  to  a  tempestuous  sea,  which,  tor- 
mented by  the  winds,  vomits  upon  its  shore  a  tide  of 
slime  and  impurity.  Be  not  surprised  at  the  bold- 
ness of  the  metaphor.  It  is  exactly  applicable  to 
those  geniuses  who  make  the  sacred  objects  of  our 
belief  the  but  of  their  ridicule  and  scorn. 


236 

This  is  not  an  occasion  on  which  I  can  collect 
and  display  the  proofs  that  support  revelation  :  but 
show  me  a  man,  whose  moral  character  evinces  that 
he  has  no  interest  in  decrying  them  ;  who,  perfectly 
divested  of  pride,  prejudice  and  passion,  will  care- 
fully examine  them;  will  trace,  and  when  he  has 
traced  them,  will  candidly  acknowledge  the  exact 
and  most  literal  accomplishment  of  the  scripture 
prophecies,  that  invincible  stumbling  block  in  the 
way  of  all  objectors  to  Christianity ;  will  admit  that 
its  original  establishment  in  the  face  of  all  human 
opposition  is  any  evidence  of  divine  original ;  that 
certitude,  moral  and  historical,  and  facts  the  most 
palpable,  are  a  test  of  truth  in  any  cause  whatsoever  ; 
that  the  assent  of  the  most  virtuous  and  enlightened  • 
men  in  every  age  of  the  Christian  world,  down  to  the 
present  hour,  carries  any  weight  with  it :  that  our  re- 
ligion, if  false,  could  have  still  kept  its  ground  in  so 
many  nations  of  the  earth,  amidst  the  increase  of 
human  knowledge,  and  unceasing  variation  of  all 
human  things  ;  and  after  such  an  inquiry,  and  such 
acknowledgments,  will  still  persist  in  unbelieving ; 
I  will  then  confess  that  real  and  deliberate  incre- 
dulity is  not  a  chimera. 

But  I  am  bold  to  say,  that  such  an  example  w  ill 
never  be  found ;  or  if  ever  it  should,  it  will  be  a 
singularity  not  to  be  accounted  for  on  any  known 
principle  of  the  human  mind,  and,  therefore,  would 
make  nothing  against  the  natural  strength  of  the 
argument. 


237 

No,  it  is  invariably  the  passions  of  men  that  im- 
pel them  to  throw  aside  the  yoke  of  religion  ;  of 
men  whose  open  and  declared  profligacy  of  manners, 
haunted  by  the  spectre  of  future  retribution,  is  not 
the  spring  of  their  revolt.  IV o,  it  is  pride,  it  is  the 
vanity  of  rising  superior  to  received  opinions,  of 
being  thought  wiser  and  more  intelligent  than  the 
multitude,  whom  they  would  represent  as  dragging 
their  steps  amidst  a  night  of  prejudices ;  following 
their  teachers  with  an  abashed  head,  and  equally 
born  to  creep  under  the  tyrants  of  their  reason,  as 
under  those  of  their  liberty. 

Consequently  we  see  religion  attacked,  not  by 
argument,  but  by  sophistry,  misrepresentations,  wit, 
irony,  ridicule,  apocryphal  anecdotes,  vain  and  pue^ 
rile  declamations;  and  all  such  arts  as  impose  on  the 
understanding,  and  carry  away  the  suffrage  of  super- 
ficial hearers,  who  never  fail  to  think  themselves 
convinced,  when  they  are  delighted  and  amused. 

Press,  however,  those  hearers  of  impiety  with 
any  thing  like  argument ;  offer  them  the  gauntlet  of 
serious  discussion,  and  they  are  dumb.  The  most 
you  can  draw  from  them  is  a  lame  attempt  to  cover 
the  weakness  of  human  reason  in  a  bad  cause;  or 
sometimes  a  mysterious  insinuation,  that  they  know 
much  more  on  the  subject  than  they  think  it  right  or 
prudent  to  express. 

There  is  no  man  acquainted  with  the  world,  who 
must  not  often  have  witnessed  this,.     What  a  race 


238 

of  impostors  ;  what  a  curious  system  that  would  en- 
lighten mankind,  while  it  dreads  to  be  enlightened  ; 
that  is  supposed  to  be  the  work  of  reason,  while  it 
shrinks  from  all  reasoning ;  and  that  impudently 
shouts  victory,  while  it  shrinks  from  the  combat ! 
And  yet  such,  and  such  only,  are  the  triumphs  of 
infidelity  ancient  and  moderirl  A  miserable  empty 
reed  dashing  against  a  colossus  ! 

Look  into  the  most  celebrated  writers  of  that  cast; 
and  what  trace  do  you  find  of  a  dispassionate  inquiry 
after  truth  ?  What  do  they  present  to  the  world, 
but  master- pieces  of  impiety,  in  which  the  sacred  and 
the  profane,  truth  and  calumny,  fable  and  true  his- 
tory, eulogium  and  satire,  reason  and  pleasantry, 
united  and  confounded  together  in  their  march,  seem 
to  dispute  the  glory  of  charming  and  seducing  the 
reader,  like  those  inchanted  labyrinths  in  which 
every  way  attracts,  and  every  way  misleads  ? 

Such  are  the  works  of  Bayle,  such  of  Voltaire,  of 
Housseau,  and  many  others  I  could  mention ;  men 
gifted  by  heaven  with  every  talent,  but  seduced  by 
the  pride  of  human  reason  and  Inst  of  false  glon  . 
to  employ  them  in  the  most  abominable  of  all  pur 
poses.  L'erhaps  it  would  be  impossible  to  calculate 
the  extent  of  the  mischief  they  have  produced 
throughout  the  Christian  world. 

In  the  first  ages  of  Christianity  you  behold  the 
fruits  of  perfert  and  universal  submission  to  the 
principles  of  Christianity,  in  a  society  of  men  allbrd- 


239 

ing  the  example  of  every  virtue  that  insures  the 
happiness  of  individuals  and  tranquillity  of  states. 
But  since  the  growth  of  infidelity,  Great  God,  what 
a  torrent  of  corruption  !  What  inquietude  in  the  spirit 
of  man  !  What  theories  !  What  systems  destructive 
of  all  puhlic  felicity !  What  abominations  !  What 
crimes  !  What  a  full  evidence  of  this  has  been  given 
to  the  world  ! 

Oh  divine  religion  !  let  thy  ministers  be  silent. 
Thou  standest  not  in  need  of  their  assistance.  Thy 
cause  is  at  last  become  the  cause  of  all  society.  The 
delusion  is  dissipated.  Every  eye  is  opened.  Im- 
piety is  at  length  wounded  with  its  own  sting ;  it  is 
betrayed  by  its  own  excesses  ;  it  is  even  terrified  at 
the  horrors  it  has  occasioned !  May  we  profit,  my 
friends,  by  the  awful  lesson  !  May  religion  resume 
a  glorious  empire  among  us  !  the  protection  of  heaven 
be  assured,  and  this  island  be  happy ! 

I  come  now  to  the  second  head  of  my  appeal  to 
you.  Perhaps,  of  the  two,  it  is  much  less  injurious 
to  God,  to  spurn  his  revelation  as  an  imposition  on 
the  human  understanding,  and  unnatural  restraint  on 
human  passions,  than  to  confess  he  has  revealed  a 
law,  anil  yet  live  in  daring  violation  of  every  rule  it 
prescribes,  for  the  regulation  of  our  conduct.  But  I 
appeal  to  your  own  breasts,  and  this  is  certainly  not 
a  time  to  cast  a  veil  over  the  truth,  how  far  the  ge- 
nerality of  Christians  may,  with  justice,  be  accused 
of  dishonouring  their  profession;  or  whether  it  would 
be  exaggeration  in  me  to  assert,  that  the  day  never 


#40 

existed  when  fervor  io  religious  practice  Mae  te] 
known,  and  the  example  of  viee  and  every  species 
of  dissipatipn  more  notorious,  consequently  more 
ruinous.  I  say  ruinous  ;  for  who  is  unacquainted 
with  the  influence  of  example  on  the  morals  of  youth  ? 
Example  is  omnipotent  in  vice  or  virtue. 

Our  first  father,  though  born  without  original  staiq, 
could  not  resist  the  example  of  the  first  crime.  We 
are  imitative  creatures,  more  exactly  poised  in  our 
inclination  to  good  or  evil,  than  is  imagined  by  those 
who  judge  more  severely  of  human  nature.  It  is  the 
weight,  the  preponderance  of  example  on  one  side 
or  the  other,  that  invariably  determines  the  first  bent 
pf  our  lives.  It  is  impossible,  at  certain  years,  to 
resist  the  power  of  repeated  impressions. 

Hence  it  is,  that  we  see  the  sacred  principles  of 
education  rapidly  hunted  down,  and  dropping  like 
the  buds  of  blasted  vegetation.  Thus  the  man,  who 
would  have  §tood  firm  against  the  force  pf  his  own 
passions,  yields  to  that  body  of  vice,  which  he  sees 
not  only  tolerated  and  excused,  but  nearly  consecra- 
ted and  commanded.  Thus  the  woman,  who  came 
pure  from  the  plastip  haucj  of  education;  with  all  the 
grapes  pf  njpdesty  blooming  in  her  mien;  and  all  the 
virtups  pf  religion  shining  in  her  deportment,  is  so 
qujckly  hurried  down  the  silver  tide  of  fashion,  that 
it  is  just  to  say,  she  becomes  radically  tainted 
wjth  pride,  vanity,  folly,  and  affectation ;  drops 
that  diffidence,  which  is  certainly  the  most  captiva- 
ting feature  of  the  sex;  becomes  bold,  staring,  mas- 


241 

culine,  and  assured ;  passes  her  whole  life  in  the 
oblivion  of  all  that  is  serious  5  never  bestows  a 
thought  on  God,  or  her  duty ;  and,  to  speak  nio*e 
truly,  adores  nothing  but  herself. 

This  is  the  notorious  and  too  melancholy  effect 
of  example.  The  youthful  character  presents  itself, 
like  flaming  wax,  to  the  seal  of  the  day,  and  takes  au 
impression  that  becomes  hardened  and  durable. 
The  necessity  of  doing  as  other  people  do,  and  the 
dread  of  ridicule,  have  plunged  thousands  into  a 
course  of  life  which  their  understandings  have  re- 
probated and  their  hearts  abhorred.  As  well  might 
we  expect  to  mock  the  ordeal  of  fire  and  water,  as 
associate  in  the  season  of  youth  with  a  corrupt  gene- 
ration, and  preserve  for  any  time  even  the  appearance 
of  religion  and  virtue, 

"  With  the  pure,"  says  David,  "  thou  wilt  shew 
ff  thyself  pure ;  and  with  the  froward  thou  wilt  shew 
"  thyself  froward.'7  Let  it  specially  be  observed, 
that  bad  example,  when  exhibited  by  the  higher 
orders  of  life,  is  an  evil  most  extensively  fatal  and 
pernicious.  The  vulgar  or  obscure  can  do  but  little 
comparative  mischief  in  this  way ;  withdrawn  from 
attention  by  the  humility  of  their  lot,  the  eye  of  God 
is  the  chief  witness  of  their  ways.  Whether  they 
stand  or  fall,  the  consequence  is  chiefly  to  them- 
selves. Suppose  them  covered  with  the  vilest  of- 
fences, they  would  but  infect  within  the  sphere  of 
their  contracted  intercourse. 


242 

But  those  among  you,  my  friends,  whom  God  has 
raised  high  above  the  multitude,  what  a  blessing  or 
a  curse  has  he  decreed  you  to  be  ?  You  cannot  perish 
alone.  Like  the  beast  in  the  Apocalypse,  which  fal- 
ling from  the  heavens,  dragged  the  stars  into  the 
abyss,  to  your  perdition  is  attached  the  perdition  of 
thousands.  It  is  not  only  in  the  bosom  of  your  fami- 
lies, or  intercourse  with  each  other,  that  you  save  or 
destroy.  No  !  your  morals,  whatever  they  be,  be- 
come necessarily  the  morals  of  the  whole  public  : 
your  example  becomes  a  standing  rule;  either  an  in- 
strument to  promote,  or  a  poison  to  sap  the  stock  of 
virtue  in  the  nation. 

It  is  impossible  you  can  go  astray,  as  to  the  gene- 
ral tenor  of  your  lives,  unknown  to  the  world.  Like 
a  torch  in  the  midst  of  the  night,  you  are  distinguish- 
ed by  the  lustre  you  emit.  Your  inferiors  take  a 
vanity  in  walking  in  your  steps.  You  stamp  on  li- 
centiousness an  air  of  nobility  and  fine  taste,  which 
they  cannot  resist.  Every  graft  that  you  lay  on  the 
simplicity  and  innocence  of  ancient  manners  is  in- 
fallibly spread. 

From  you,  the  present  reigning  indecency  of  female 
dress  ;  from  you,  the  artificial  blush  which  dishonours 
the  human  countenance  ;  from  you,theincreasing  rage 
for  play,  and  the  highest  play ;  from  you,  a  pre- 
vailing latitude  of  conversation  on  certain  topics, 
which  Christian  delicacy  revolts  at ;  from  you,  the 
too  manifest  and  too  general  contempt  for  even  the 
externals  of  religion. 


243 

For  instance,  as  to  this  point :  I  speak  to  you  now 
in  the  holy  time  of  Lent.  Great  God !  how  is  it 
profaned  by  all,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest?  Is 
there  any  mark  of  peculiar  fervor  and  restraint  at 
this  time,  passed  by  our  divine  Saviour  in  fasting, 
solitude  and  prayer,  but  with  us,  I  may  say,  in  un- 
common revelry  :  as  if  we  selected  this  period  for 
the  impious  purpose  of  insulting  the  example  and 
deriding  the  sufferings  of  him  who  redeemed  us? 

The  very  enemies  of  the  Christian  name  read  us 
a  lesson  on  this  head,  that  ought  to  cover  us  with 
deepest  confusion.  Every  thing  announces  among 
them,  at  the  period  of  their  Ramezan,  repentance, 
expiation,  atonement,  before  the  face  of  the  most 
high  God  !  Against  the  slightest  transgressors,  their 
law  pronounces  a  penalty  :  against  the  more  scanda- 
lous, death. 

Such  are  the  disciples  of  a  false  prophet;  and  in 
the  bosom  of  Christianity,  amidst  a  chosen  and  a 
cherished  race,  the  beloved  of  God,  and  redeemed 
by  his  blessed  Son,  the  only  spectacle  that  attends 
a  sacred  obligation  is  the  multitude  of  those  that 
spurn  and  despise  it ! 

Again;  we  are  commanded,  "  to  kefep  holy  the  sab- 
"  bath  day."  I  challenge  any  impartial  man  to  say, 
whether,  in  the  very  worst  state  of  relaxation  to  which 
religion  can  be  supposed  to  arrive,  it  would  be  possi- 
ble almost  to  imagine  more  various  abuse  of  that  day 
than  our  community  affords.     I  am  unwilling  to  enter 


244 

into  particulars  :  nor  perhaps  would  it  be  prudent  to 
do  so  on  the  present  occasion.  Surely  one  should 
think  that  six  days  in  the  week  are  long  enough) 
in  all  conscience,  for  the  work  of  offence  and  dissi- 
pation. Why  do  we  pursue  and  assault  our  religion, 
in  her  last  entrenchment?  Why  are  we  continually 
innovating  on  the  oldest  establishment  of  vice  ? 

Are  we  never  to  be  glutted  with  the  world  ?  Is 
there  no  luxury  in  breathing  free  from  unnatural 
repletion?  At  least  I  may  be  allowed  to  say,  that 
cards,  assemblies,  and  play  on  the  sabbath  of  the 
Lotd  our  God,  are  an  abominable  profanation  ;  cards 
that  on  every  day  are  a  mine  of  offence,  no  longer 
an  occasional  amusement,  but  a  settled  profession  ; 
a  sharping  resource ;  the  very  business  of  our  lives  j 
over  which  avarice  itself  is  seen  to  slumber  from 
perfect  lassitude. 

Inconceivable  passion  !  Why  do  not  the  ministers 
of  religion  devote  the  evening  of  this  sacred  dav  to 
such  an  employment?  No,  the  world  would  exclaim  , 
against  them.  I  dare  assert  there-  never  was,  or 
never  will  be,  so  direct  and  shameful  a  prostitution 
of  their  sacred  function.  No  ;  the  world  would  be 
the  very  first  to  proclaim  it  as  an  argument  in  defence 
of  its  own  profanation. 

And  have  you  less  to  fear  on  the  subject  of  futu 
rity  than  we  have?  If  we  have  all  equally  the  same 
law  to  abide  by,  depend  upon  it,  that  according  to 
oar  transgressions,   we  shall  experience  the  same. 


245 

judgments,  and  be  involved  in  the  same  common  ruin, 
Alas  my  friends,  whence  can  it  be  that  all  the  ad- 
monitions we  receive  on  this,  and  every  other  point 
of  Christian  duty,  appear  absolutely  without  effect? 

Year  after  year,  and  day  after  day,  they  are  im- 
pressed on  us.  We  are  certainly  appealed  to  with 
much  fervor  and  much  assiduity.  The  ambassadors 
of  God  cry  aloud  to  us  in  his  temples,  and  his  word 
is  in  our  hands.  Every  consequence,  temporal  and 
eternal,  is  brought  to  stare  us  in  the  face.  Still  our 
train  of  life  continues  obstinately  the  same.  No 
deep  sensibility  to  reproof;  no  fixed  determination  to 
lay  the  axe  to  the  root  of  any  one  single  passion  or 
abuse ! 

Oh  !  how  afflicting  must  this  be  to  the  hearts  of 
those,  who  are  appointed  by  heaven  to  hunger  and 
thirst  for  your  salvation  !  Grant  us  at  least  the  hap- 
piness, at  this  awful  crisis,  threatened,  as  our  coun- 
try still  is,  by  a  dreadful  visitation,  to  find  that  we 
make  some  impression  on  you.  Oh,  what  have  we 
yet  done  to  conciliate  our  God  !  Yes,  we  have  assem- 
bled on  a  solemn  day  to  repent  with  our  lips.  But 
repentance  would  have  fruits.  St.  John,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan,  preached  not  the  parade,  but 
the  fruits  of  repentance.  "  Bring  forth,"  said  he, 
"  fruits  worthy  of  repentance."  If  you  have  two 
coats,  give  one  to  him  who  hath  none.  Lay  the  axe 
at  once  to  the  root  of  the  tree  ;  that  is,  pronounce  an 
eternal  and  radical  divorce  from  your  vices  and 
passions,  and  become  shining  examples  of  every 

2H 


246 

human  virtue.  To  this  we  are  now  solemnly  called. 
What  a  mockery  is  it  to  look  for  divine  protection 
in  this  world,  or  mercy  in  the  next,  on  any  other 
terms ! 

You  yourselves  would  regard  me,  at  this  instant, 
as  the  vilest  apostate  from  my  duty,  did  I  hold  a 
different  language  to  you.  And  yet  what  you  would 
receive  from  my  lips  with  indignation  and  horror,  is 
the  very  doctrine  you  cherish  in  your  hearts,  and 
proclaim  in  your  conduct.  What  inconsistency ! 
Hear  then  this  solemn  truth,  and  though  the  grave 
threw  up  the  dead  to  controvert  it,  they  would  de- 
ceive you  :  while  the  Lord  looketh  down  from  the 
height  of  his  sanctuary,  and  beholdeth  the  great  ex- 
cesses  authorised  and  diffused  by  the  greatest  exam- 
ples ;  a  monstrous  system  of  luxury  increasing  the 
public  misery ;  a  principle  of  false  honour  shedding 
blood  without  authority  or  remorse  ;  children  taught 
every  thing  but  the  science  of  salvation  ;  a  vile  and 
perishable  interest  the  god  of  all  stations ;  and 
Christianity,  from  universal  degeneracy  of  its  pro- 
fessors, the  laughing-stock  of  philosophers  and  un- 
believers. 


That  is  ground,  not  for  confidence,  but  to  tremble ; 
to  tremble  every  instant,  lest  the  cup  of  his  fury  be 
poured  upon  us  ;  the  sword  of  an  enemy  be  a  scourge 
of  his  appointment.  Can  we  deem  ourselves,  in  siwh 
a  case,  less  criminal  in  his  sight,  than  that  impiou* 
generation  which,  in  an  early  age  of  the  world,  he 
repented  having  made,  and  resolved  to  exterminate? 


247 

I  Lave  no  difficulty  in  saying,  that  we  are  more 
so,  because  the  law  of  grace,  consecrating  us  more 
specially  to  God ;  giving  us  a  more  intimate  com- 
munication with  God ;  causing  us,  in  a  degree,  to 
participate  the  very  nature  of  God,  our  transgressions, 
supposing  them  to  be  inferior  in  themselves,  take 
from  thence  a  deeper  colour  of  enormity,  and  con- 
sequently cry  louder  for  his  vengeance.  Incurable 
must  our  infatuation  be,  if  we  see  not  this  instant, 
the  way  we  should  pursue. 

Is  it  when  the  decree  of  our  chastisement  may 
have  passed,  when  the  heart  of  our  God  is  steeled 
against  us ;  when  we  are  delivered  over  to  the  sons 
of  Amalec,  and  the  land  we  inhabit  is  polluted  by 
infidels,  and  ravaged  by  furies ;  when  every  object 
for  which  we  breathe  is  swept  away,  like  a  dream  5 
and  we  are  cast  forth  on  the  wide  earth,  a  proscri- 
bed, wandering,  and  mendicant  race  ? 

Is  it  then  we  shall  raise  our  hands  to  a  long-for- 
gotten Father?  Oh,  it  would  be  vain  !  No;  you  had 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  and  you  heard  them  not. 
Remember  it  is  written,  that  the  Lord  hath  estab- 
lished a  time  for  mercy,  and  a  time  for  vengeance ; 
and  mocketh  that  repentance  which  is  the  effect  of 
force  and  necessity.  I  should  never  draw  to  a  con- 
clusion, were  I  to  say  all  that  my  heart  suggests. 
From  the  very  bottom  of  it  have  I  spoken  to  you. 
What  interest  have  I  in  your  temporal  or  eternal 
fate,  but  what  is  given  to  me;  from  God  ?  If  I  am 


248 

inflamed  for  either,  what  other  principle  can  inflame 
me? 

If  you  can  be  insensible  to  the  only  infallible 
means  of  conciliating  the  divine  protection  to  our 
common  country,  what  might  not  the  case  be  with 
me,  in  the  common  order  of  human  feelings  ?  With 
me,  who  am  but  an  atom  on  the  surface,  and  would 
find  a  resting-place  wherever  I  was  blown. 

Or,  if  you  can  look  to  the  great  day  of  your  eter- 
nal account  without  fear  and  trembling,  what  affair 
would  that  be  of  mine,  did  I  not  view  you  with  other 
eyes  than  one  man  views  another? 

Reflect  then  on  the  warning  you  have  received, 
for  it  hath  a  character  you  ought  to  distinguish  and 
feel.  Reflect  on  that  warning ;  for  I  am  the  min- 
ister of  God,  and  it  is  not  mine.  The  time  may 
come,  when  the  greatest  on  this  earth  shall  be  hum- 
bled and  let  down.  Melancholy  evidence  that  no- 
thing is  stable  and  immutable  but  God  !  They  may, 
with  tears  in  their  eyes,  and  sorrow  in  their  hearts, 
say,  even  to  me,  Oh,  that  our  unhappy  nation  had 
attended  to  such  counsel  as  you  once  addressed  to 
us! 

To  the  high  and  the  low,  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
those  in  authority,  those  out  of  authority,  ministers 
of  heaven,  parents  and  children,  Christians  all,  here 
it  is.  Serve  God,  and  cause  him  to  be  served  !  No 
detail  could  tell  you  more.    To  your  mercy  1  commit 


249 

the  portion  of  innocence  and  wretchedness  before 
you.  Had  I  kept  them  m  your  attention  through 
the  whole  of  this  discourse,  I  could  not  have  served 
them  better,  than  by  the  line  I  pursued.  I  know  it ; 
I  feel  it.  I  will  pledge  my  life,  my  eternity,  the 
event  will  prove  it,  whatever  appearance  may  be 
against  me. 

Resolve  from  this  hour,  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  that 
the  iniquities  of  the  people  shall  cease  with  your 
own.  Edify  them  by  your  example.  Enlighten 
them  by  early  instruction.  The  mute  eloquence  of 
Christian  life  in  their  superiors  is  a  more  powerful 
instrument  in  reclaiming  the  adult  generation,  than 
all  the  efforts  of  their  priests  or  ministers. 

But  what  might  not  the  ministry  effect,  when  for- 
tified by  such  assistance?  What  weight,  what  au- 
thority would  it  not  extend  to  the  truths  which  we 
announce  to  them  ?  What  confidence  to  our  zeal  ? 
What  credit  to  our  censures  ?  What  consolation  to 
our  labours  ?  In  pointing  to  those  above  them,  the 
appeal  would  be  decisive  and  unanswerable. 

I  will  venture  to  say,  if  the  upper  and  middling 
orders  lived  as  they  ought,  there  would  be  little 
iniquity  in  the  multitude.  Even  one  great  example 
in  a  kingdom  is  a  treasure  to  the  cause  of  religion 
and  virtue.  Mattathias  alone  stemmed  the  torrent 
of  abomination  in  Juda.  To  the  influence  of  your 
personal  conduct,  join  early  instruction.  Let  semi- 
naries of  education  flourish,     Strike  at  the  root  of 


250 

popular  misery  and  popular  disorder.  You  know 
what  you  have  done  in  this  way.  Think  you  have 
done  nothing,  while  any  thing  remains  to  be  done. 

The  appeal  in  this  cause  has  been  almost  ex- 
clusively to  your  feelings  as  men ;  and  a  prolific 
source  it  must  be  confessed.  But  the  times  seriously 
and  awfully  warn  you  to  act  in  another  capacity. 
Regenerated  to  God,  your  fruits  will  be  invariable 
and  immense.  Your  efforts  in  this  cause  will  know 
no  bounds.  You  yourselves  will  be  the  first  to  pro- 
nounce that  superabundance  of  property  as  accursed 
which  is  turned  to  a  less  sacred  purpose,  than  that 
of  promoting  the  designs  of  providence,  strengthening 
the  bonds  of  society,  and  distributing,  I  may  say 
here  below,  crowns  of  immortality  to  your  fellow- 
creatures  ! 

Oh,  how  all  the  vain  magnificence  of  the  world 
sinks  before  the  glory  of  such  works !  To  your 
mercy  I  commit  those  unprotected  objects  of  com- 
miseration. I  know  what  has  happened  in  the  course 
of  last  week.  It  was  early  announced  to  me  in  the 
stillness  and  tranquillity  of  my  solitude,  looking  for- 
ward with  the  liveliest  hope.  Whatever  lias  the 
most  distant  colour  of  disaster,  and  thank  God,  that 
to  every  man  who  does  not  purposely  represent  it 
otherwise,  it  is  but  a  colour,  is  rapidly  conveved. 
I  was  even  earnestly  entreated,  I  was  implored  to 
defer  this  appeal  to  you.  I  was  told  that  it  must 
necessarily  fail ;  that,  not  a  being  would  attend  us  ; 
that  I  ought  to  prepare  myself  to  see  those  children 


251 

abandoned !  No ;  I  looked  up  to  God,  and  deter- 
mined to  go  on.  The  appearance  before  me  evinces, 
that  he  who  puts  his  trust  in  him  is  a  truer  prophet 
than  the  disciples  of  Baal.  Were  I  urged  by  no 
other  principle,  I  thought  it  my  duty,  not  to  give  my 
countenance,  insignificant  as  it  is,  to  such  an  alarm, 
obviously  unfounded,  by  the  postponement  of  the 
present  business.  I  knew  that  at  no  time  would 
your  charity  disappear,  a  virtue  so  peculiarly  born 
yours ;  which  all  the  demands  of  the  world  cannot 
extinguish  in  your  hearts ;  and  which,  perhaps  at 
this  moment  stands  between  you  and  the  visitation 
of  God.  When  was  there  ever  a  greater  occasion, 
for  exercising  it  ?  When  misery  is  increased  to  the 
most  enormous  growth  ;  when  such  ruin  surrounds 
you  as  would  force  tears  from  the  most  rigid,  and 
harrow  up  the  stores  of  the  worshippers  of  gold. 

No  ;  that  charity  should  cease  here,  was  a  thought 
of  horror ;  a  libel  on  heaven  ;  a  detraction  from  your 
character.  I  dismissed  it  with  execration.  I  re- 
solved to  go  on.  And  again,  and  again  do  I  say, 
that,  so  far  from  losing  my  usual  trust  in  you,  I 
never  ascended  this  pulpit  with  more  confidence  of 
you  in  my  heart.  You  know  the  particular  case  of 
these  infants.  You  know  they  have  no  support  to 
expect  from  the  parish  to  which  they  belong.  It  is 
not  equal  to  it.  There  is  no  part  of  this  great  ca- 
pital where  the  dispositions  of  Providence  are  more 
awfully  written.  If  it  have  not  a  pre-eminence,  it 
has,  at  least,  a  fair  struggle  for  pre-eminence  in  every 
deacriptioa  of  human   calamity.     The   number  of 


252 

destitute  and  famishing  children  is  now  great  be 
yond  all  former  times.  Not  one  of  these  before  you 
whose  father  is  not  actually,  or  has  not  been  in  the 
ranks  of  his  country.  To  your  hearts  I  submit  it, 
whether  it  be  not  mercy,  and  superior  mercy,  to 
support  an  institution  like  this,  in  the  midst  of  misery 
and  desolation  ?  This,  indeed,  I  may  say  you  have 
already  done.  Last  year  alone  gave  it  a  shock  that 
went  nearly  to  dissolve  it. 

Our  call  on  you  was  unfortunately  at  a  time  when 
the  town  was  much  emptied.  Not  enough  was 
raised  to  maintain  these  objects.  I  resisted,  how- 
ever a  reduction  of  their  number.  One  benevolent 
man  was  found  to  supply  the  deficiency.  I  relied 
on  this  day  ;  convinced  that,  when  reminded  of  our 
misfortune,  you  would  greatly  feel,  and  powerfully 
repair  it.  I  have  not  known  you  for  ten  long  years 
without  being  sensible,  that  there  are  extremities 
which  you  cannot  resist.  I  leave  you.  I  trust  in 
you.  Not  all  the  inauspicious  forebodings  I  have 
heard  could  depress  that  feeling  for  a  moment.  I 
stand  to  these  unhappy  objects  in  a  tender  relation. 
Oh  !  let  their  pastor  and  father  implore  you  to  save 
him  from  the  mortal  affliction  of  seeing  them  cast  out 
on  a  world  of  iniquity  and  woe.    I  can  say  no  moro 

Grant  this,  O  God,  for  the  sake  of  thy  Son  Jesus 
Christ ;  to  whom,  with  thee,  and  the  Holy  Spirit,  be 
all  honour  and  glory  for  ever  and  cv*r.     Amen. 


SERMON  XL 


[This  was  a  Charity  Sermon  preached  in  the  Year  1798,  for  the 
Benefit  of  the  Widows  and  Children  of  those  of  the  Yeomen- 
rj  and  Militia,  who  fell  in  the  Rebellion.] 

John,  xiii.  34. 

A  new  Commandment  I  give  unto  you,  that  ye  love 
one  another. 

I  GIVE  thanks  to  the  supreme  God,  that  I  meet 
you  in  this  place  !  that  his  temples  are  still  open  to 
echo  the  voice  of  his  ministers  and  servants !  and 
that  every  thing  sacred  to  civilized  and  religious 
men  yet  defies,  under  the  shield  of  divine  protection, 
all  the  fury  of  fanaticism,  impiety,  and  rebellion. 
Yes,  my  fellow  citizens,  and  fellow  Christians,  I 
come  hither  to  rejoice  with  you ;  to  glory  with  you 
in  the  advancing  triumph  of  a  cause,  which  all  the 
freedom  and  virtue  of  the  universe  must  call  their 
own.  No,  never  shall  the  monster,  Jacobinism,  ex. 
ult  in  the  ruins  of  our  happy  constitution;  or  the 
influences,  the  charities,  the  hopes  of  a  divine  reli- 
gion, be  replaced  by  a  detested  system  of  preteuded 
reason  and  avowed  impiety.  No  !  Neither  will  God 
abandon  us  at  this  awful  moment,  nor  shall  we 
abandon  ourselves.     A  deluded  multitude  may  yet 

21 


254 

continue  the  instruments  of  desperate  and  sanguinary 
leaders ;  they  may  yet  be  pushed  on  to  fresh  ex- 
perience  of  defeat  and   destruction !    the   delusive 
hopes  of  rapacity,  or  workings  of  superstition  may 
still  uphold  their  phrenzy  !  the  blood  of  the  inno- 
cent and  the  guilty,  the  loyal  and  disloyal,  may  long 
mingle  in  this  unhappy  contest ;  but  Ireland  can 
never  perish  while  she  deserves  to  live ;  whilst  her 
virtue  and  her  mind  are  in  counsel  and  in  arms ; 
whilst  every  hour  reveals  such  new  and  astonishing 
energies ;  and  every  life  that  flows,  and  every  wound 
that  is  inflicted  in  her  cause  become,  as  we  daily 
witness,  the  seed  of  a  prouder  and  more  invincible 
combination.     Oh  !  my  friends,  from  what  a  destiny 
have  we  been  saved  !  Never,  never  should  we  forget 
that  signal  providence  which  has  so  long  watched 
over  our  safety,  which  unbound  the  very  elements 
to  protect  our  shores  from  invasion ;  that  early  laid 
open  the  whole  train  of  this  damnable  conspiracy ; 
that  on  the  very  eve  of  its  explosion  overwhelmed 
its  principal  supporters,  and  prepared  every  loyal 
soul  to  meet  a  most  formidable  crisis  with  the  coun- 
tenance and  spirit  of  heroes.     What,  I  say,  what 
would  our  dear  and  commou  country  have  been  at 
this  present  hour,  had  not  heaven  so  mercifully  in- 
terposed in  its  behalf?  had  negligence  and  torpor 
distinguished  our  government,  instead  of  vigilance 
and  vigour  ?  had  we  been  gulled  by  specious  cries 
of  patriotic  sounds,  and  with  a  train  ready  to  spring 
under  our  feet?  What?  what,  but  one  vast  and  dc* 
plorable  scene  of  misery  and  desolation  !  All  right, 
all  order,  all  distinction  annihilated  !  The  possession 


255 

of  property  become  a  mark  of  inevitable  proscription ; 
the  stones  of  our  sanctuaries  dragged  into  the  pub- 
lic places ;  the  ministers  of  heaven  devoted  in  the 
face  of  day ;  our  wives  and  virgins  polluted  by  the 
passions  of  brutes  and  barbarians!  Every  friend  to 
humanity  and  moderation,  every  man  averse  to 
revolutionary  horrors,  butchered  without  mercy ! 
"  Blood,  in  the  language  of  the  prophet,  touching 
"  blood f.9  and  to  crown  all,  the  demon  of  super- 
stition  sharpening  and  extending  the  cruelty  of  the 
multitude,  and  tearing  from  their  breast  the  last 
remnant  of  remorse  and  compassion !  Such,  such 
is  the  Revolution,  from  which  heaven,  in  its  supreme 
mercy,  has  hitherto  delivered  us  !  Nor  is  it  unlikely 
that  the  savage  actors  in  it,  when  their  work  was 
complete,  would  have  shed  in  equal  torrents  the 
blood  of  one  another,  to  determine  who  should  pos- 
sess the  empire,  or  greater  division  of  the  ruin. 

I  am  induced  from  a  severe  regard  to  truth  to 
mention  that  religious  animosity,  which  too  clearly, 
and  too  wofully  appears  to  have  been  pressed  into 
the  service  of  the  present  rebellion.  I  trust  I  shall 
not  be  considered  as  inflamed  myself,  and  conse- 
quently desirous  of  inflaming  my  protestant  brethren, 
with  the  same  abominable  sentiment.  No,  as  I  hope 
for  mercy  at  the  great  day,  there  is  no  principle  in 
nature  more  foreign  to  the  ruling  disposition  of  my 
soul.  Whatever  the  magnitude  of  their  injuries  may 
be,  I  would  rather  remind  them  of  that  memorable 
and  godlike  answer,  which  our  divine  Saviour  made 
to  his  disciples,  when  solicited  to  command  Are  from 


256 

heaven  for  the  destruction  of  a  Samaritan  village, 
*f  Ye  know  not,"  said  he,  "  what  manner  of  spirit 
"  ye  are  of."  The  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  inspire 
men  with  principles  of  malevolence,  cruelty,  and 
revenge  ;  but  to  fill  the  human  bosom  with  godlike 
forbearance,  amity,  and  love.  I  would  rather  in- 
culcate on  them,  what  a  striking  contrast  all  san- 
guinary and  uncharitable  feelings  present  to  the 
character  of  Him  who  was  eminently  the  friend  of 
mankind,  in  whose  breast  every  thing  dwelt  that 
was  humane  and  divine,  and  who  bequeathed  us  this 
glorious  sentence  as  a  living  and  eternal  lesson,  ik  By 
"  this  shall  all  men  know  that  you  are  my  disciples, 
"if  ye  love  one  another." 

It  is  greatly  to  be  lamented,  and  the  thought  can- 
not fail  to  inspire  a  serious  mind  with  the  most  gene- 
rous pity  and  indignation,  that  Christians  should,  in 
all  ages  of  the  church,  have  so  miserably  departed 
from  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel.  I  am  sorry  to  make 
the  following  remark ;  but,  alas,  it  is  but  too  just 
and  obvious.  There  is  no  species  of  history  which 
a  benevolent  man,  or  well  wisher  of  the  human  race, 
reads  with  less  pleasure,  or  rather  with  more  disgust, 
than  ecclesiastical  annals.  Had  our  blessed  Lord 
left  us  this  precept  on  record,  "  A  new  commandment 
"  I  give  unto  you  that  you  hate  one  another,"  it 
could  not  have  been  better  fulfilled  than  it  has  been 
from  the  third  century  down  to  the  present  hour. 

One  shudders  to  think  what  seas  of  human  blood 
have  been  spilt,  in  what  are  called  religious  icars, 


257 

and  with  what  circumstances  of  refined  barbarity, 
and  unwearied  perseverance,  various  and  discordant 
parties  of  Christians  have  laboured  to  exterminate 
one  another.  It  is  not  improbable  that  our  Saviour 
and  his  disciples  might  have  had  these  unhappy 
scenes  in  view,  when  they  so  earnestly  conjured 
Christians,  by  every  affecting  argument  and  motive, 
to  cultivate  mutual  affection  and  concord.  Nor* 
certainly  is  there  any  thing  that  shows  our  divine 
religion  in  a  more  endearing  light,  than,  that  it  is  by 
no  means  chargeable  with  those  mischiefs,  and  hor- 
rors which  the  worst  passions  of  human  nature  have 
engendered  ;  but,  that  its  sole  study,  its  grand  and 
primary  object  is,  to  reconcile  us  to  one  another  by 
means  of  one  common  union,  one  common  Redeemer, 
and  inspire  all  who  bend  to  the  sacred  name  of  Jesus, 
with  unbounded  philanthropy  and  love.  Persevere 
then,  my  high-minded  friends,  in  defending  the 
cause  of  human  nature  and  your  couutry,  with  ener- 
gies that  are  worthy  of  it ;  but  dishonour  it  not  by 
a  black  and  unchristian  auxiliary !  Obey  the  glo- 
rious impulse  of  patriotism  alone ;  discard  all  em- 
blems; abjure  all  names,  but  those  of  men  determined 
to  expire  with  the  constitution  and  the  throne ! 

If  you  have  beheld  with  horror  and  affliction,  the 
wanton  and  unprecedented  enormities  of  a  blind  and 
sanguinary  bigotry ;  if,  in  too  many  instances,  the 
unoffending  professors  of  our  national  religion  have 
been  barbarously  cut  off  in  the  bosom  of  their  retire- 
ments, pursue  those  monsters  with  tenfold  vengeance, 
Who  have  infused  this  exterminating  spirit  into  the 


258 

breasts  of  the  multitude ;  drag  them  to  atonement  in 
the  face  of  an  enlightened  world ;  but  pity  the  de- 
luded instruments,  even  reeking  as  they  are  with  the 
blood  of  innocence :  shew  them  that  you  are  Chris- 
tians, that  you  regard  every  human  creature  without 
distinction  as  a  brother,  and  would  make  as  great 
sacrifices  to  promote  the  happiness,  relieve  the  ne- 
cessities, or  protect  the  life  of  an  individual  who  dif- 
fered, as  of  one  who  agreed  with  you  in  religious 
communion.        ~ 

These  are  sentiments  I  think  it  my  duty  to  ex- 
press in  this  place,  in  the  awful  situation  in  which 
we  are  placed  ;  sentiments  which  Jesus  Christ  him- 
self, did  he  stand  in  this  chair,  would  express ;  and 
which,  had  I  the  whole  rational  world  as  my  audi- 
ence, must  be  generally  revered  and  approved. 

When  I  look  to  the  condition  of  this  country  some 
short  time  back,  I  trace  a  picture  which  every  friend 
to  the  happiness  of  his  fellow  creatures  must  view 
with  satisfaction,  nay  even  with  delight.  ?Tis  true 
there  is  nothing  human  in  which  theorists,  and  de- 
claimers  on  first  principles  may  not  discover  blots, 
and  pronounce  exceptionable.  But  will  any  honest, 
unprejudiced  and  thinking  man,  who  estimates  the 
degree  of  felicity  to  which  a  community  may  aspire, 
not  by  arguments  drawn  from  fancy,  but  with  wise 
and  proper  allowance  for  those  errors  and  deviations, 
that  are  inseparable  from  humanity ;  will  any  such 
man  pronounce  that  the  condition  of  Ireland,  at  the 
period  I  allude  to,  was  not  more  than  enviable? 


259 

Name,  I  may  say,  a  single  public  and  social  blessing 
that  we  did  not  enjoy,  or  were  not  gradually  enjoy- 
ing !  We  possess  the  freest,  yes,  the  freest  form  of 
constitution  under  heaven.     Every  hour  had  brought 
us  nearer  to  the  fullest  participation  of  it :  our  legis- 
lative independence  had  been  gloriously  and  irrevoca- 
bly established  !  The  great  and  capital  restriction  on 
our  trade,  which  was  so  mucli  complained  of,  had  fal- 
len to  the  ground  ;  our  judges  were  declared  for  life  ; 
the  right  of  appeal  to  the  British  House  of  Lords 
was  given  up ;  concession  came  after  concession  ; 
whatever  the  pride  of  freemen  demanded,  the  affec- 
tion, wisdom,  policy  and  justice  of  England  had  sur- 
rendered, or  were  fast  surrendering  !  Those  shackles, 
in  which  the  jealousy  of  angry  times  had  deemed  it 
necessary  to  bind  a  large  proportion  of  our  commu- 
nity, had  yielded,  in  the  master  links,  to  the  long 
experience  of  their  loyalty  ;  and  our  catholic  brethren 
were  advancing  with  rapid,  dignified  step,  into  the 
bosom  of  the  constitution.     If  the  state  of  our  repre- 
sentation remained  capable  of  reform,  let  it  be  re- 
membered, that,  on  this  subject,  the  very  best  and 
wisest  men  were  divided ;  and  that  even  the  illustri- 
ous father  of  the  present  British  minister,  though 
confessedly  one  of  tbe  most  ardent,  powerful  and  vir- 
tuous assertors  of  liberty  the  empire  ever  saw,  re- 
coiled from  the  experiment !  With  all  this  our  com- 
merce, our  manufactures  were  palpably  improved, 
if  not  flourishing ;  the  condition  of  the  meaner  orders 
as  palpably  meliorated,  and  every  quarter  of  the 
nation  making  rapid  advances  to  wealth  and  pros^ 
perity.! 


260 

From  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes,  I  can  declare, 
that,  in  the  most  impoverished  of  our  provinces,  a 
province  of  which,  from  the  steady  and  unshaken 
loyalty  it  has  evinced  in  this  trying  moment,  I  am 
proud  to  feel  myself  a  native ;  the  scene  was  univer- 
sally changed,  and,  instead  of  hereditary  beggary  and 
rags,  presented  a  happy  and  contented  people,  pos- 
sessing in  abundance  all  the  common  comforts  and 
necessaries  of  life.  Such  was  the  high  ground  on 
which  we  stood  ;  such  the  manifest  condition  of  Ire- 
land, when  the  infernal  demon  of  French  liberty  and 
equality  came,  like  Satan  inio  Eden,  to  attempt  to 
blast  our  happiness. 

That  in  every  society,  some  turbulent  and  discon- 
tented spirits  should  be  found  5  men  born  to  subvert, 
traitors  by  nature  to  all  rule  and  government,  who, 
in  the  lust  of  dominion,  would  grasp  with  avidity  at 
schemes  of  innovation,  and  readily  overturn  the  best 
blessings  of  their  country,  whatever  difficulty  or  hor- 
ror might  attend  the  execution,  neither  can  nor  will 
create  matter  of  astonishment;  since  heaven  itself 
nourished  serpents  in  its  bosom,  who  preferred  reign- 
ing in  the  abyss,  to  the  fulness  of  fruition  in  the 
realms  of  glory ! 

But  that  any  considerable  portion  of  the  people  of 
Ireland,  tasting,  as  1  have  showed,  all  the  sweets  of 
prosperity  and  peace,  drinking  at  the  very  spring  of 
liberty,  should  be  so  blinded,  so  infatuated ;  their 
reason,  their  senses,  their  gratitude  to  heaven  and 
their  country,  so  completely  overwhelmed  by  the 


261 

specious  and  diabolical  arts  of  a  handful  of  traitors, 
as  to  spurn  at  their  unhappy  condition,  and  give  an 
example  to  the  world  of  the  most  bloody  and  atro- 
cious rebellion,  is  a  circumstance  as  harrowing  to 
every  feeling  of  the  heart,  as  it  would  seem  unac- 
countable to  every  effort  of  the  human  understand- 
ing! 

Oh,  my  frieuds,  were  it  given  me,  ungifted  as  I 
am,  to  address  the  deluded  multitude,  methinks  it 
were  impossible,  that  the  force  and  ardour  of  truth 
should  not  make  way  to  their  hearts  ;  impossible  that 
the  scales  of  deception  would  not  drop  from  their 
eyes ;  and  those  eyes  behold,  with  horror,  the  dag- 
gers that  are  planted  in  the  breast  of  their  country ! 
"  Hold  I"  would  I  say  to  them,  u  in  the  midst  of  your 
"  headlong  career,  and  hear  the  voice  of  him,  who  is 
u  neither  the  organ  of  party,  nor  the  instrument  of 
u  faction,  but  a  minister  of  the  God  of  peace ;  who 
"  comes  before  you  with  a  heart  bleeding  at  your 
u  errors,    and    panting  for  your   happiness ;    look 
u  around  and  survey  the  havoc  you  have  made ; 
"  consider  your  objects,   and  the  means  you  have 
u  employed  !  You  have  turned  the  fairest  portion  of 
u  your  native  soil  into  a  frightful  desert ;  thousands 
"  have  been  reduced  by  you,  in  one  moment,  from 
"  the  possession  of  all  human  blessings,  to  a  state  of 
"  houseless  misery  and  despair  :  thousands  have  fled, 
"  or  are  flying  in  all  directions,  from  the  scourge  of 
*  war,  excited  by  you  !  The  capital  is  crowded  with 
"  the  mourning  widows  and  orphans  of  those  you 
"  have  massacred  in  the  coldest  blood.     Bands  that 


262 

H  were  never  raised  to  Heaven  in  vain,  are  now  fer- 
"  vently  uplifted  for  vengeance  on  your  guilty  heads ; 
"the  earth  is  drunk  with  the  blood  of  your  own 
u  companions  in  rebellion ;  their  wives  and  children 
"  are  expiring  of  famine  in  the  open  fields,  and  pub- 
"  lie  ways  !  You  have  entailed,  and  are  entailing, 
"  eternal  infamy  on  yourselves  and  posterity,  by  re- 
"  sistance  to  the  institutions  of  a  nation  that  loved 
u  and  cherished  you ;  and  by  deeds,  in  that  resis- 
"  tance,  unknown  to  cannibals  and  barbarians !  Such 
"  are  your  means ;  and  what  are  your  objects  ?  In 
"  what  have  you  been  persecuted,  in  what  oppres- 
"  sed  ?  Where  is  the  evil  in  your  condition  that  could 
"  justify  proceedings  execrable  to  human  nature,  and 
"the  whole  social  world?  Alas,  you  know  not  I 
u  You  have  been  promised  visions,  and  they  fly  be- 
"  fore  you  ;  and  visions  you  would  have  found  them 
"  to  be,  had  even  your  present  phrenzy  been  crown- 
"  cd  with  success.  Liberty  !  you  felt,  you  posses- 
"  sed  it ;  and  believe  me,  would  have  exchanged  it 
"  for  the  most  abject  experience  of  slavery !  Pro- 
"  perty  !  you  possessed  that  abundance  suited  to  your 
"  condition  ;  and  have  been  dragged  from  the  peace 
u  and  plenty  of  your  hearths,  to  meet  death  and  de- 
"  struction  in  all  forms,  and  range  abroad  in  the  de- 
"  tested  profession  of  plunderers  and  bloodhounds. 
"  Look  at  France !  She  had  some  colour,  some  apo- 
"logy,  for  encountering  the  evils  of  revolt.  All  the 
"  rights  of  man,  all  the  noble  aspirings  of  his  nature 
"  were  crushed  by  the  iron  foot  of  despotism  ;  but 
"  what  has  she  gained  ?  She  is  still  in  bonds.  Ty- 
"  ranny  the  most  palpable  and  various,  and  the  worse 


263 

a  and  more  incurable  for  being  covered  by  the  sa- 
"  cred  name  of  liberty,  still  bows  her  to  the  earth. 
"  Her  unhappy  people  possess  no  alternative  but  that 
"  of  serving  in  her  ranks,  or  perishing  by  hunger  or 
"  proscription.  Years  rolling  on  years,  will  not  re- 
U  store  her  to  the  common  level  of  society.  Centu- 
u  ries  cannot  retrieve  her  character ;  seas  wash  away 
u  her  enormities.  Oh,  my  countrymen,  oh,  my  bre- 
"  thren,  profit  by  the  great  lesson  of  experience  I  Be 
"no  longer  the  dupes  of  your  worst  enemies  5  spurn 
u  those  traitors  who  have  hitherto  misled,  and  would 
"  still  mislead  you ;  return  to  your  duty  ;  be  not  in- 
a  sensible  to  the  best  gifts  of  Heaven ;  cast  your- 
u  selves  on  the  mercy  of  your  country !  If  she  have 
"  spirit  and  resolution  to  pour  vengeance  on  the  heads 
"  of  rebellious  and  unnatural  children,  she  has  bow- 
"  els  to  embrace  them  when  they  appear  before  her 
"  in  the  garb  of  repentance.  But  beware,  most  so- 
lemnly do  1  conjure  you,  beware,  by  an  obstinate 
li  and  fruitless  struggle  of  impelling  her  for  her  own 
4i  safety  and  tranquillity,  to  bind  those  in  eternal 
"  chains,  who  prove  unworthy  to  be  free !"  This  is 
the  language  in  which  I  would  address  them.  This 
is  the  language  in  which,  as  far  as  possible,  they 
ought  daily  to  be  addressed.  To  contrive  all  means 
of  preventing  the  spreading  of  human  calamity,  and 
stopping  the  effusion  of  human  blood,  should  be  thft 
unwearied  passion ;  nay,  and  engage  the  very 
dreams  of  humanity.  Had  we  been  as  active  before 
the  commencement  of  this  unfortunate  scene,  in  inter- 
cepting those  mists  which  the  industry  of  incendiaries 
was  drawing  fast  over  the  popular  mind,  as  wc  haw 


264 

since  been  in  the  protection  of  all  that  is  dear  to  us,  it 
is  move  than  probable,  we  never  should  have  seen 
even  the  colour  of  open  resistance.  But  what  did  we 
do  ?  Why,  shocked  and  alarmed  at  occasional  exces- 
ses, and  the  growing  spirit  of  midnight  robbery  and 
assassination,  we  abandoned  our  posts,  fled  from  the 
infested  quarter,  and  left  the  field  open  to  the  quiet  and 
uninterrupted  apostleship  of  agents  and  sowers  of  se- 
dition. 

All  the  weight  of  providing  against  the  first  symp- 
toms of  a  coming  storm  was  cast  on  the  shoulders  of 
government.  Our  streets  were  filled  with  those  who, 
instead  of  remaining  in  the  circles  of  their  natural 
influence  and  authority  to  exert  necessary  vigour  in 
the  suppression  of  disorders ;  to  open  the  eyes  of 
their  tenants  and  dependants  on  their  true  interests ; 
to  guard  them  from  the  infection  of  French  princi- 
ples, by  the  words  of  wise  and  fervent  admonition, 
came  hither  in  crowds,  with  rueful  tales  ad  rueful 
countenances,  to  spread  despondency,  and  pass  their 
time  in  sauntering  inquiries  on  the  news  of  the  day. 
But  it  is  folly  to  look  back.  When  the  die  was 
thrown,  they  showed  how  greatly  they  could  atone 
for  a  mere  error ;  and  Ireland  will  be  distinguished 
in  the  records  of  time,  as  an  illustrious  and  adaman- 
tine rock,  against  which  the  overwhelming  surges  of 
French  anarchy  have  dashed  in  wain.  Yes,  if  it  owe 
not  its  salvation  singly  to  our  brave  and  magnanimous 
yeomanry ;  it  would,  if  necessary,  have  owed  it.  If 
the  generous  and  noble  aid  it  has  received,  and  is 
receiving  from  the  sister-country,  had,  by  any  disas- 
trous chance,  been  withheld,  Ireland  was  sufficient 


265 

for  Ireland!  I  say  it;  and  every  loyal  soul  in  this 
congregation  would  arise,  and  echo :  Ireland  was 
sufficient  for  Ireland  !  No  man  who  has  witnessed 
the  ardor  of  his  citizen  soldiers ;  the  countenance  they 
present ;  the  forms  they  display  5  the  discipline  they 
evince ;  the  copious  and  impetuous  torrents  of  loyalty 
that  hourly  flow  to  share  and  swell  the  honour  of 
their  ranks,  can  dispute  the  assertion  for  a  single 
moment:  qualities  which,  in  mercenaries  and  un- 
heated  souls,  are  the  mere  conquest  of  time :  such 
as  ready  submission  to  controul ;  strict  military  sub- 
ordination ;  cool  contempt  of  danger,  and  patience 
of  &A  ioil,  in  them  the  burning  fire  of  true  patriotism 
has  rapidly  created.  Yes,  men  enlightened  by  the 
ia valuable  objects  they  were  born  to  enjoy,  came 
forth  in  the  great  hour  of  danger,  ready  trained,  to 
conquer  by  the  sacred  and  inspiring  genius  of  the 
constitution. 

Glorious  body !  Tt  is  not  for  me  to  do  justice  to 
your  triumphs.  They  only  who  beheld  you  in  a 
nearer  view ;  who  beheld  every  hour  your  panting 
alacrity  to  meet  the  enemy :  they  only  who  led  you 
into  action,  and  have  seen  you  in  the  field  of  death, 
bearing  down  every  thing  before  you,  and,  nobly 
prodigal  of  your  blood,  are  equal  to  record  them. 
May  the  gratitude  of  your  country  be  eternal !  May 
you  never  have  cause  to  say  with  the  Roman  patriot: 
"  I  would  rather  have  it  asked,  why  Cato  had  not  a 
"  statue,  than  why  he  had  one/'  May  you  sustain 
to  the  last  the  great  character  you  have  earned  ;  and 
add  to  it  the  still  greater,  of  returning  to  the  tran- 


266 

quiility  of  private  life  ;  lamenting,. in  tbe  spirit  of  di. 
vine  religion,  the  fatal  consequences  of  war,  and 
undazzled  by  the  rays  of  your  own  glory. 

To  the  militia  of  Ireland  I  likewise  gladly  pay  a 
feeble  tribute.  What  an  example  have  they  pre- 
sented of  steady  and  uncorruptible  loyalty  !  What 
regiment  has  not  evinced  itself  worthy  of  our  utmost 
confidence  !  And  who  shall  again  presume  to  tarnish 
with  the  unjust  breath  of  suspicion  the  honour  of  an 
Irish  soldier  ?  Placed  in  the  most  delicate  situation, 
too  uninstructed  to  feel  all  the  sacredness  of  the  cause 
in  which  they  were  engaged  ;  connected  by  inttuHne- 
rable  ties ;  by  country ;  by  class ;  almost  univer- 
sally by  sect ;  perhaps,  in  numerous  instances,  by 
blood  and  consanguinity ;  such  the  unhappy  people 
to  whom  they  were  opposed ;  they  yet  marched  to 
tbe  contest,  not  with  dejected  brows,  but  with  high- 
crested  spirit,  and  every  where  came  out  of  it  adorned 
with  the  wreath  of  superior  valour,  and  unstained, 
as  far  as  I  could  learn,  with  a  single  instance  of  de- 
fection. Let  these  gallant  troops,  this  constitutional 
bulwark  of  our  defence,  occupy  the  high  place  they 
Lave  merited  in  our  respect  and  affection ;  and  let 
us  study,  on  all  occasions,  to  make  them  feel  and 
enjoy  the  greatest  of  all  rewards,  that  of  being  num- 
bered among  the  saviours  of  their  country.  More 
my  heart  would  prompt  me  in  their  regard  $  had  I 
said  less  it  would  reproach  me. 

There  is  an  awful  consideration  connected  with 
the  present  subject,  which  the  suddenness  of  my  ap- 


267 

pearance  in  this  place  allows  me  not  to  dwell  on, 
I  leave  it  to  abler  bands,  and  cooler  moments.  Nor, 
certainly,  should  I  have  presumed  on  the  hasty  and 
indigested  effusion  you  have  heard,  had  I  not  long 
known,  that  you  are  much  more  distinguished  by 
generous  indulgence  than  critical  severity.  I  shall 
only  beg  leave,  most  earnestly  to  recommend  a  serious 
and  true  Christian  return  on  ourselves.  If  ever  it 
were  called,  most  awfully  called  for,  you  will  con- 
fess it  is  now.  Let,  I  conjure  you,  the  sacred  empire 
of  religion  be  resumed  in  our  hearts.  Let  it  shine 
out  in  our  practice ;  and  let  us  view,  in  the  deplora- 
ble event  that  has  taken  place,  not  merely  the  effect 
of  human  causes,  but  the  chastening,  the  awakening 
influence  of  a  mighty  and  invisible  hand.  Horrible 
would  our  ingratitude  be,  horrible  our  insensibility, 
if  both  the  inflictions  and  the  mercies  of  Heaven  were 
equally  cast  away  !  I  would  not  reproach  you.  I 
would  not  look  back.  I  would  not  descend  from 
that  elevation  of  feeling,  which  the  happy  prospect 
of  a  subsiding  evil  has  universally  inspired,  to  the 
miserable  drudgery  of  detail  on  the  subject  of  our. 
past  vices  and  errors.  Too  often,  alas  !  has  it  been 
recurred  to  in  vain :  too  often  has  all  the  zeal  of 
the  ministry  split  against  the  rock  of  our  impeni- 
tence :  our  obstinate  and  immoveable  perseverance 
in  the  most  shameful  disgrace  of  our  calling  !  Perhaps 
even  at  this  hour,  big  as  it  is  with  a  deluge  of  human 
calamity,  the  passions  and  abominations  of  our  Israel 
still  prescribe  against  the  law ;  and  not  one  beins; 
exists  in  its  vast  bosom,  no  not  one,  who,  with  bro- 
ken and  contrite  heart  trembles  before  the  c.onnie- 


268 

nance  of  a  long  insulted  God.  But  I  commit,  as  I 
proposed,  this  solemn  and  important  topic  to  your 
own  reflections ;  and  proceed  to  a  very  few  words 
on  the  immediate  purpose  of  your  meeting. 

Had  I  a  son  who  greatly  fell  contending,  as  in 
the  present  cause,  not  only  for  the  liberties  and  hap. 
piness  of  this  country,  but  for  the  liberties  and  hap- 
piness of  the  world  ;    a  first  movement  of  nature 
would  no  doubt  draw  a  tear  from  my  eye,  or  a  groan 
from  my  heart.     But  that  tribute  once  paid,  I  would 
hail  his  fate  as  blessed,  and  tread  with  pride  and 
exultation  on  his  glorious  grave.     Under  the  sanc- 
tion of  this  feeling,  which  I  am  persuaded  is  still  in 
a  higher  degree  yours,  I  bring  into  your  view  all  that 
is  left  of  those  who  fought  and  conquered,  and  died 
in  your  defence  :  the  dear  and  tender  pledges  of 
expiring  husbands  and  fathers,  the  merit  of  whose 
blood  was  the  only  legacy  they   had  to  bequeath 
them.     I  appeal  not  on  this  occasion  to  your  mercy, 
I  come  not  as  usual,  with  study  and  preparation,  to 
draw  scenes  of  existing  misery,  and  make  awful 
comparisons  between  the  various  destinies  of  God?s 
creatures.     I  come  not  to  combat  the  wretched  sub- 
terfuges of  selfishness,  and  arouse  feelings  of  com- 
passion, which  passions  of  prodigality  and  dissipa- 
tion are  in  arms  to  beat  down ;  but  in  the  fulness 
and  effusions  of  my  heart,  to  address  hearts  that  al~ 
ready  glow,  not  to  meet  an  enemy,  but  to  share  a  tri- 
umph, and  be  witnesses  what  high-beating  patriotism 
and  loyalty  can  do  at  a  moment  like  this.     Deep 
would  be  the  wound  inflicted  on  the  Irish  character. 


269 

if  that  enthusiasm,  which  ever  meets  the  eye  and  the 
ear  out  of  this  place,  should  subside  into  languor, 
when  called  to  give  the  most  affecting  test  of  its  sin- 
cerity. What  have  I  not  a  right  to  look  for  from 
you  my  fellow  citizens  on  this  head  :  when  the  sym- 
pathy, the  generous  and  noble  sympathy  of  England, 
poured  out,  not  in  the  course  of  one  day,  but  in  one 
hour,  one  thousand  five  hundred  pounds,  for  support 
of  the  widows  and  children  of  all,  without  distinction} 
who  fell  or  might  fall  in  the  present  rebellion  ? 

I  reminded  you,  in  the  preceding  part  of  this  dis- 
course, what  your  lot  would  have  been,  had  this 
jacobin  conspiracy,  of  the  ferocious  and  the  base, 
succeeded  in  sweeping  away  all  the  blessings  you 
possess. 

Let  this  consideration  meet  you  now  full  in  the 
face.  Let  the  upper  and  the  middling  ranks,  wealth 
and  mediocrity,  reflect  on  the  sacred  regard  they  owe 
to  the  last  prayer  of  that  valour,  which  protected  them 
from  inevitable  mendicity  and  ruin.  And  when  their 
hands  are  extended  to  repay  an  incalculable  benefit, 
let  them  pause  and  inquire  of  their  hearts,  whei'  er 
the  magnitude  of  the  offering  is  proportioned  to  the 
exalted  sacrifices  that  demand  it.  Let  those  minis- 
ters of  religion  and  venerable  prelates,  who  may  now 
hear  me,  think  of  their  sacred  order  rescued  from 
the  certainty  of  utter  subversion,  and  pour  out,  in  the 
face  of  Heaven  and  their  country,  with  tenfold  abun- 
dance, those  means  they  hold  in  trust  for  the  hap- 
piness of  their  fellow-creatures.     Let  the  female  part 

2L 


270 

of  my  congregation  look  Lack  with  horror  on  the 
dangers  to  which  matron  purity  and  unsullied  inno- 
cence  were  exposed  ;  and  if  those  dear  domestic  ties, 
which  constitute  the  whole  scope  of  their  felicity,  be 
now  secured  to  them  for  ever,  let  the  unhappy  ob 
jects  I  plead  for  find  a  natural  and  tender  resting, 
place  in  their  exulting  bosoms.  Let  us  all  raise  our 
eyes  with  ardent  and  eternal  thanksgiving,  for  the 
preservation  of  religion,  liberty,  property,  and  life. 
And  let  the  walls  of  this  hallowed  place,  till  they 
moulder  into  dust,  call  to  the  memory  and  veneration 
of  man,  the  mighty  tribute  you  will  this  day  lay  on 
the  altar  of  public  gratitude  and  virtue. 


SERMON  XII. 


[This  Sermon  was  preached  for  the  Female  Orphan  House.] 
Psalm  xviii.  16.  19. 

Tie  sent  from  above.  He  took  me.  He  drew  me 
out  of  many  waters.  He  brought  me  forth  also 
into  a  large  place.  He, delivered  me,  because  he 
delighted  in  me. 

THUS  it  was,  iny  brethren,  that  a  religious  prince 
referred  to  its  mighty  source,  the  signal  and  happy 
fortune  he  had  experienced.  Seated  after  many  se- 
vere trials  and  hair- breadth  escapes,  on  the  throne  to 
which  providence  had  destined  him,  and  tranquilly 
enjoying  the  love  of  his  people,  his  heart  unceasingly 
revolved,  and  his  lips  unceasingly  published  the  glo- 
ry and  bounty  of  his  Supreme  Benefactor.  From 
his  tenderest  years,  God  had  marked  him  for  his 
own.  For  him  he  had  rejected  the  posterity  of  Saul ; 
for  him  he  had  passed  by  all  the  great  and  powerful 
of  his  own  tribe ;  and  that,  at  a  season  of  life  when 
he  had  nothing  to  recommend  him  but  the  innocence 
and  simplicity  of  his  heart.  Nor  was  the  Almighty 
satisfied  with  this  mark  of  eternal  election  :  his  divine 
hand  was  the  shield  that  protected  him  from  every 
peril ;  from  the  fury  of  the  lion  and  the  bear ;  from 
the  strength  of  Goliah,  the  perfidy  of  Absalom,  the 


272 

snares  of  the  Philistines,  and  the  not  less  dangerous 
snares  of  his  own  prosperity  and  glory.  In  fine,  to 
crown  these  mercies,  God  conducted  him  into  a  large 
place,  that  is,  into  the  midst  of  Jerusalem,  and  esta- 
blished his  residence  and  dominion  for  ever  in  the 
bosom  of  peace,  security,  and  abundance. 

Such,  my  brethren,  may  I  in  a  degree  pronounce 
to  be  the  distinctive  mercy  which  God  has  shewn  to 
the  numerous  objects  of  this  great  institution.  He 
has  drawn  them  out  of  many  waters,  he  has  delivered 
them,  because  he  delighted  in  them.  He  has  chosen 
them  from  amidst  thousands  of  their  own  tribe,  whom 
his  unsearchable  judgments  have  still  committed  to 
the  wide  world,  its  evils,  and  its  woes ;  and  he  has 
conducted  them  into  a  large  place ;  that  is,  within 
the  walls  of  a  comprehensive  and  glorious  asylum, 
where  their  helpless  sex  and  immaculate  purity  are 
secured  for  ever  from  the  worst  of  fates,  temporal  and 
eternal. 

From  the  first  moment  of  its  establishment,  my 
brethren,  we  may  perceive  the  manifest  agency  of  a 
superintending  providence.  A  blessed  woman,  of 
high  rank,  who  is  now  in  glory,  first  laid  its  founda- 
tion within  the.  precincts  of  her  own  house.  Many 
before  me  at  this  moment  can  bear  witness  to  this 
singular  example  of  Christian  benevolence.  The 
wretched  creatures  she  thus  collected  into  her  bosom, 
increased  every  day ;  she  maintained  them  at  her 
sole  expense,  she  instructed  tbem  with  her  own  lips, 
she  walked  before  them,  as  to  her  example,  like  a 


273 

divinity  in  human  form  ;  dead  to  the  world  and  its 
pleasures ;  her  doors  barred  against  vain  and  idle 
intrusion  ;  her  whole  train  and  equipage  discharged, 
she  lived  but  to  devote  her  fortune  and  her  life  to 
this  labour  of  love.  Too  eager,  alas  !  was  heaven 
to  reward  such  virtue.  It  was  unfortunately  the  swift, 
but  glorious  evidence,  how  far  it  was  possible  for  a 
human  creature  to  throw  off  all  the  imperfections  of 
mortality.  In  the  midst  of  her  sacred  and  laborious 
occupation,  the  grave  opened  apparently  to  frustrate 
her  designs  and  hopes  :  but  the  virtues  of  the  truly 
righteous  communicate  a  soul,  if  I  may  so  express 
myself,  to  their  very  remains,  that  irresistibly  impels 
to  the  imitation  of  their  example.  Scarcely  did  that 
affecting  portion  of  now  doubly  orphans,  let  fall  a 
tear  on  the  tomb  of  their  adored  parent  and  benefac- 
tress ;  scarcely  did  they  look  around  them  at  that 
terrible  moment  with  dismay  and  trembling,  when 
she  still  seemed  to  exist  in  kindred  and  congenial 
spirits ;  they  were  eagerly  collected  under  the  wings 
of  equal  benevolence,  and  a  cause  which  visibly  dis- 
played, in  its  origin,  the  spirit  of  God,  as  sensibly 
felt  him  in  the  wonder  of  its  rescue  from  early  de- 
struction. Contrary  to  the  fortune  of  all  new  insti- 
tutions, whose  progress  is  gradual  in  public  favour 
and  protection,  the  very  first  appeal  of  this  nature 
which  it  made,  afforded  in  the  contribution  a  brilliant 
prognostic  of  its  future  prosperity  and  glory ;  nor 
amidst  the  many  vicissitudes  of  years  that  too  gene- 
rally weaken  the  fervor  of  first  impressions,  has  one 
ground  of  presumption  occurred,  that  this  cause  is 
not  destined  to  flourish  as  long  as  religion  and  hu- 


274 

manity  continue  to  be  revered.  Such,  my  brethren, 
is  the  history  of  the  object  which  I  am  once  more 
come  before  you  to  recommend. 

Perhaps  of  all  sources  of  corruption  in  human 
society  there  is  none  greater,  than  that  lamentable 
degradation  of  the  female  sex,  which  this  institution. 
from  the  extensive  scale  on  which  it  is  conducted, 
must  go  extensively  to  diminish.  In  the  considera- 
tion of  this  point,  T  place  the  misfortune  of  fallen 
woman,  as  far  as  it  involves  her  own  fate  temporal  and 
eternal,  totally  out  of  the  question.  To  this  I  shall 
^peak  in  the  sequel ;  I  would  here  only  consider  the 
effect  which  her  depravity  is  known  to  produce  ou 
the  morals  of  every  rank  of  the  community ;  and  I 
do  say,  when  we  deliberately  look  to  the  variously 
desperate  complexion  of  that  effect,  there  is  no  prin- 
ciple, Christian  or  social,  that  must  not  give  superior 
importance  to  the  preventive  before  us.  How  many 
parents,  eveu  in  the  highest  order  of  life,  can  bear 
woful  testimony  to  the  total  perversion  of  youth,  by 
the  seductions  of  the  vicious  part  of  the  female  sex  ! 
The  fondest  hopes  of  rising  excellence  disappointed  ; 
fortune  opprobriously  dissipated  ;  constitution  radi- 
cally broken  down  ;  living  spectres  of  early  decrep- 
itude !  Every  ingrafted  virtue,  every  sacred  principle 
of  education  effaced,  every  vice  that  can  dishonour 
human  nature  and  religion,  springing  from  this  one 
impure  root.  Objects  to  which  they  tenderly  looked 
up  for  the  pride  and  consolation  of  their  age,  often 
presenting  nothing  to  their  eyes  but  the  premature 
compound  of  the  demon  and  the  bratc.     This  may 


275 

appear  to  be  strong  language  on  the  subject ;  but  to 
know  the  world  at  all,  is  to  know  that  it  is  more  than 
justified.     When  youth  is  once  allured  into  the  mys- 
teries of  libertinism,  there  is  no  excess  or  enormity 
that  is  not  swallowed  like  water.     It  is  the  property 
of  this  fatal  evil  even  to  mar  the  finest  qualities  of 
nature.     Often  are  talents  and  spirits,  fitted  for  the 
greatest  purposes  of  society,  entombed  for  ever  in 
this  sepulchre  of  the  soul ;  nothing  that  belongs  to 
mind  can  have  power  to  charm,  where  mind  would 
appear  no  more.     If  youths  who  might  have  pressed 
forward  to  the  most  honorable  distinction  be  daily 
seen  without  a  spark  of  virtuous  emulation  ;  insen- 
sible even  to  that  love  of  fame,  which  in  default  of 
purer  motives,  gives  birth  to  such  diversified  objects 
of  human  ability ;  roaming  through  the  capital  with 
stupid  and  licentious  gaze,   dead  to  the  respect  of 
character,  and  equally  lost  to  their  country  and  the 
world  ;  impute  it  to  no  other  cause  than  that  unhappy 
corruption  of  morals  which  extinguishes  the  nobler 
aspirings  of  man,  to  substitute  the  pursuits  of  a  vile 
instinct.     Would  you  vindicate,  my  brethren,  the 
honour  of  religion  and  nature  ;  would  you  behold  in 
youth  the  ambition  of  preeminence  in  virtue  and 
usefulness,  establish  purity  and  severity  of  morals, 
by  cutting  off  the  foul  source  of  their  depravation  I 
Do  this,  I  say  ;  and  instead  of  swarms  of  walking  and 
ignominious  nuisances  you  will  have  men ;  you  will 
have  citizens  :    more,   instead  of  the  contempt  of 
Christian  practice,  private  and  public ;  instead  of  the 
affected  and  blasphemous  language  of  infidelity,  for 
the  libertine  is  invariably  profane,  you  will  havo 


276 

youth  glorying  in  submission  to  the  sacred  principles 
of  their  religion,  and  affording  the  happy  and  edifying 
spectacle  of  its  influence  on  their  conduct. 

And  here,  my  brethren,  I  am  naturally  led  to  ob- 
serve, that  if  there  be  any  obligation  on  a  Christian 
that  towers  above  all  others,  it  is  that  of  stemming, 
by  all  possible  means,  the  progress  and  example  of 
impiety.  On  the  consequences  of  this  evil  it  is  need- 
less for  me  to  dwell.  That  it  leads  to  th<5  destruction 
of  the  best  interests  of  society,  and  commission  of  all 
crimes,  the  present  generation  has  had  evidence 
enough.  It  has  been  a  prodigy  reserved  for  our  times, 
to  see  impiety  become,  by  its  monstrous  excesses,  its 
own  executioner,  and,  contrary  to  its  hopes  and 
natural  tendency,  the  principle  of  regeneration  and 
social  order  throughout  the  Christian  world.  We 
have  seen,  too,  the  not  inferior  prodigy  of  religion, 
solemnly  and  ostentatiously  brought  forward  to  justify 
the  foulest  usurpation  of  sovereign  power,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  very  nation,  that  with  recent  and  impious  rage 
had  overturned  its  altars,  and  laid  the  dust  of  their 
ruin  with  the  blood  of  its  ministers ! 

All  I  would  urge  on  this  occasion  is,  the  solemn 
duty  of  striking  at  a  known  source  of  every  thing 
insolent  and  daring  in  irreligion.  That  libertinism 
is  such,  no  one  of  common  experience  can  doubt. 
If  there  be  any  example  on  record,  which  I  much 
question,  of  pure  morals  being  coupled  with  infidelity, 
there  are  thousands  where  vice  alone  is  its  principle 
and  its  nurse.     Like  the  ocean,  which,  tormented  by 


277 

the  tempest,  vomits  on  its  shore  its  various  filth  an*l 
impurity,  the  libertine,  tormented  by  conscience, 
vomits  against  the  religion  that  devotes  him  to  all 
the  suggestions  of  his  foul  heart  and  imagination ; 
finding  it  impossible  to  ally  faith  with  the  brutal 
indulgence  of  his  passions,  he  furiously  adopts  the 
resource  of  renouncing  the  one,  in  order  to  maintain 
the  gratification  of  the  other.  It  was  thus,  my  bre- 
thren, that  even  the  wisest  and  most  favoured  of  men, 
openly  insulted  and  disavowed  the  worship  of  the 
true  God,  from  the  moment  he  became  a  slave  to  the 
allurement  of  infamous  women.  It  is  against  this, 
and  an  infinite  variety  of  evils,  the  most  shocking  to 
religion  and  society,  that  we  provide,  in  labouring 
to  root  out  the  prostitution  of  the  female  sex.  But 
I  have  not  done.  How  much  might  be  said  on  the 
degree  to  which  human  nature  is  debased  and  per- 
verted, and  the  infernal  put  on  in  receptacles  of 
ill  fame !  What  amalgamation  of  horrors !  What 
nightly  scenes  of  furious  discord,  howling  riot,  and 
mad  intoxication !  Horrible  imprecations ;  not  un- 
frequently  blood,  accidental  or  premeditated  ;  often- 
er,  I  fear,  premeditated  than  accidental !  What 
youth  ever  sallied  forth,  after  inhaling  the  blasting 
air  of  such  a  school,  but  to  exhibit  an  object  of  glo- 
rying depravity,  and  a  various  pest  to  the  pure  and 
religious  part  of  the  community  ? 

Are  we  ignorant  to  what  extremity,  even  in  the 
violation  of  common  honour  and  honesty,  youth  may 
be  impelled  by  the  fascinating  tyranny  of  impure  con- 
nexions ?  I  will  venture  to  assert,  that  there  are  few 

2M 


278 

shameful  departures  in  youth  from  principle,  that  <h> 
not  arise  from  such  a  source.  One  of  the  most  heart- 
rending dramatic  productions  we  know,  was  never 
understood  to  be  a  misrepresentation  of  life,  or  a  li- 
bel on  the  human  character,  when  it  paints  the  sov- 
ereign empire  of  abandoned  woman,  leading  an  un- 
happy youth,  step  by  step,  through  all  the  gradations 
of  guilt,  to  the  final  consummation  of  the  most  un- 
natural of  all  crimes.  If  we  be  acquainted  with  ter- 
rible examples,  it  is  sufficient  that  their  root  is  spread 
wide  in  our  society :  and  I  do  verily  believe,  were 
it  possible  to  ascertain  all  that  it  cautiously  envel- 
opes in  darkness,  we  should  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  facts,  for  which,  neither  in  the  provision  of  huma** 
nor  diviue  laws,  there  is  adequate  vengeance.  Let 
the  fond  and  anxious  parent,  let  the  true  Christian, 
and  true  citizen,  reilect  on  these  things,  when  I  call 
them  to  the  support  of  this  sacred  institution  !  In  the 
long  period  of  my  appearance  in  this  cause,  never 
did  I  take  a  ground  that  ought  to  have  more  effect 
in  a  Christian  assembly, 

I  know,  my  brethren,  that  you  are  not  less  capable 
of  being  influenced  by  appeals  to  your  reason  and 
religion,  than  by  those  that  are  calculated  to  affect 
your  feelings.  Yet  let  me  remind  you,  on  this  sub- 
ject, of  the  numberless  innocent  creatures  that  are 
daily  drawn  into  receptacles  of  impurity.  What 
arts  are  first  employed  to  keep  off,  for  a  time,  the 
suspicion  of  their  fate,  the  affectation  of  the  tcndcresl 
affection,  language  the  most  reserved  and  specious. 
1he  generosity  which  bestows  all  the  variety  and 


279 

iinery  of  dress,  the  whirl  of  continued  pleasure  and 
amusement,  every  thing  that  can  discard  reflection, 
fascinate  the  youthful  heart,  and  insensibly  enervate 
its  proudest  propensity ;  till  the  black  moment  ar- 
rives when  the  veil  is  drawn,  and  the  fairest  work 
of  God  consigned  for  ever  to  the  trade  of  pollution  ! 
I  appeal  to  your  own  souls,  whether  there  ever  was 
a  case  in  the  mysteries  of  iniquity  to  inspire  more 
abhorrence,  or,  viewed  with  the  eyes  of  humanity 
alone,  that  called  more  affectingly  for  remedy  ?  Nay, 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  prostitute  caterers  for  pub- 
lic vice,  exhibiting  by  their  sides,  in  the  very  pomp 
of  equipage,  those  devoted  and  deluded  victims  ; 
as  if  the  works  of  darkness  were  not  triumph  enough 
to  their  infernal  calling,  without  shewing,  in  the  face 
of  the  sun,  how  far  the  indignant  feelings  of  a  Chris- 
tian people  could  be  insulted  with  impunity. 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  mention  the  obvious  ef- 
fect of  female  vice,  on  the  morals  of  men  in  the  lower 
class  of  society.  If,  id  that  order  of  life  where,  at 
least,  some  principles  of  religion  and  virtue  have 
been  implanted,  and  much  solicitude  obtains  on  the 
point  of  honour  and  reputation,  the  effect  be  such  as 
I  have  represented,  what  must  it  be  where  the  evil 
in  question  finds  no  fear  of  God,  no  struggle  of  con- 
science, no  recoil  from  infamy,  to  resist  the  all- per- 
verting influence  ?  Look  to  those  seats  of  intempe- 
rance, where  schemes  of  depredation,  robbery,  and 
blood,  are  secretly  concerted,  and  you  will  invaria- 
bly find  abandoned  women  mixing  in  their  councils, 
stimulating  the  wavering,  confirming  the  irresolute., 


280 

reproaching  the  cowardly,  hastening  the  hard,  bear- 
ing down  all  sentiments  of  mercy,  cheering  against 
the  dread  of  consequences,  and  dismissing,  by  their 
influence,  not  men  but  monsters,  against  the  security 
of  property  and  life.  This  is  also  what  we  are  here 
to  prevent. 

To  whatever  degree  of  wickedness  man  may  ar- 
rive, there  yet  often  remains  some  spark  of  generous 
and  noble  feelings  about  him.     Examples  are  not 
wanting  of  successful  appeals  to  it.    But  the  wicked- 
ness of  women  has  not  a  grain  of  alloy  from  any 
sentiment  that  can  soften  the  soul  in  the  execution 
of  the  worst  horrors.     Adorned  with  excellence,  she 
soars  nearest  to  the  Divinity ;  in  the  consequences 
of  her  fall,  she  descends  lower  than  the  abyss  1  Look 
to  your  places  of  execution,  and  every  feeling  must 
be  agonized,  to  see  troops  of  such  women  receiving 
the  everlasting  farewell  of  the  wretches,  they  con- 
ducted to  that  dreadful  extremity  !  And  let  ministers 
of  religion  say,  whether  there  be  one  instance  in  a 
thousand,  of  expiring  malefactors  who  do  not,  with 
their  last  breath,  pronounce  the  contagion  of  such 
society  to  be  the  chief  cause  of  their  misfortunes  ? 
There  is  not,  I  trust,  one  individual  in  this  place, 
whose  heart  is  not  bound  up  with  the  growth  of  re- 
ligion  and  morality,  and  tiie  unshaken  stability  of 
subordination,  security  and  peace  in  this  community. 
These  are  objects  for  which  we  should  eminently 
live  and  breathe.     Coldness  to  them  is  guilt ;  zeal 
for  them  nearly  all  virtue.     But,  though  our  ardor 
in  this  way  even  impelled  us  to  the  sublime  exertions 


281 

of  communicating  Christian  education,  and  careful 
seclusion  from  vice,  to  every  male  child  in  the  me- 
tropolis, it  would  be  exertion  inevitably  defeated, 
did  a  foul  and  certain  source  of  corruption  to  youth 
continue  to  be  fed  by  the  unresisted  influx  of  deser- 
ted female  infants.  I  leave  you,  therefore,  to  decide 
in  your  hearts  of  what  interest  and  importance  is  the 
cause  before  us.  But,  if  it  go  to  the  diminution  of  a 
great  public  evil,  it  likewise  goes  to  provide  for  the 
great  personal  concern  of  these  destitute  creatures ; 
which  is  the  next  consideration  I  have  to  urge. 

My  brethren,  if  the  institution,  for  which  I  plead, 
go,  as  I  have  endeavoured  to  impress  on  you,  to 
the  extinction  of  a  great  public  evil,  it  likewise  goes 
to  provide  for  the  great  personal  concern  of  these 
orphans.  This  is  a  motive  for  your  bounty,  which 
no  minister  of  God  can  be  justified  in  passing  over. 
That  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  souls  is  the .  highest 
distinction  of  Christian  benevolence,  every  true 
Christian  must  feel.  It  is  the  sentiment  that  de- 
scended from  heaven  to  accomplish  the  work  of  our 
redemption,  and  passed  from  the  heart  of  the  Re- 
deemer into  those  of  his  disciples,  to  a  degree  that 
filled  the  heathen  world  with  astonishment.  It  is 
the  sentiment  whose  recompense,  we  read,  shall  ex- 
ceed the  brilliancy  of  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever ; 
and  without  which  the  most  zealous  of  Apostles  de- 
clares, that  even  the  faith  to  remove  mountains,  or 
the  eloquence  of  angels,  or  the  most  profuse  donations 
to  the  poor,  would  carry  in  the  scale  of  our  account, 
not  the  weight  of  a  feather.    It  is  altogether  inde- 


282 

pendent  of  natural  compassion  j  operating  with  the 
same  fervour  in  the  coldest  blood,  for  the  happiness 
of  man,  when  the  little  interests  of  time  are  no  more. 
If  we  be  solemnly  commanded  to  let  our  light  so 
shine  before  men,  that  they  may  see  our  good  works, 
it  is  with  a  view  to  this  object  alone,  that  the  mute 
eloquence  of  our  example  may  become  the  means  of 
their  salvation.  The  more  corrupted  the  world  is, 
the  more  we  are  bound  to  exhibit  that  light,  which, 
while  it  shames  and  rebukes  the  prevailing  degene- 
racy, goes,  at  the  same  time,  to  resist  its  contagion. 
To  advance  the  spiritual  interest  of  our  brethren,  is 
the  life-blood  of  our  calling.  In  vain  would  we 
build  on  that  species  of  practice,  which  avoids  equal- 
ly the  character  of  a  sinner  and  a  saint.  Under  the 
solemn  law  of  edification  we  become  scandalous  be- 
fore God,  when  we  confine  ourselves  to  the  not  being 
scandalous  before  men.  It  is  not  sufficient  that  we 
are  seen  to  decline  evil,  we  must  be  seen,  according 
to  our  power,  to  embrace  all  good.  "  He  that  know- 
"eth  to  do  good,"  saith  St.  James,  "aud  doeth  it 
"  not,  to  him  it  is  sin."  And,  as  a  rich  man  would 
evidently  counteract  and  insult  the  just  and  merciful 
designs  of  Providence,  were  he  rich  only  for  himself; 
or  a  man  gifted  with  any  talent  useful  to  society,  did 
he  consign  it,  without  unavoidable  necessity,  "to  inac- 
tion ;  so  the  Christian,  who  does  not  strenuously 
labour  to  edify,  be  his  private  regularity,  his  con- 
cealed righteousness  what  it  may,  to  him  it  is  sin : 
because  God  proposes,  in  our  conduct,  a  far  greater 
object  than  ourselves.  He  proposes  to  touch,  to 
convert,  to  save  others  by  the  happy  ministry  of  our 


283 

open  and  industrious  example ;  yes,  sometimes  Tby 
the  shining  light  of  a  single  individual,  to  renew  the 
declining  empire  of  religion,  and  bring  about  the 
salvation  of  thousands. 

No  error,  therefore,  I  repeat,  is  more  gross,  com- 
mon as  it  is,  than  to  imagine  that  the  solemn  obliga- 
tion of  good  example  is  discharged,  by  not  giving 
bad.  Nay,  I  feel  no  difficulty  in  saying  that  this 
error  may  even  be  more  ruinous  in  its  consequences 
than  the  example  of  excessive  depravity,  which  dis<- 
gusts  by  its  enormity.  But  when  few  instances  of 
singular  piety  and  virtue  appear,  to  direct  the  un- 
certain steps  of  youth  in  the  elevated  way  they 
should  go,  to  confirm  the  principles,  and  support  the 
first  fervor  of  their  education,  the  consequence  is, 
as  we  daily  see,  that  they  quickly  fall  in  with  the 
torrent  of  semi-christianity,  deem  every  thing  allow- 
able but  positive  vice ;  are  led  to  ally  all  the  plea- 
sures and  abuses  of  the  world  with  the  hopes  of  their 
calling,  and  like  multitudes  around  them,  and  mul- 
titudes that  went  before  them,  are  damned  in  the 
bosom  of  fancied  innocence  and  security.  I  say 
fancied  security ;  for,  what  semi-christian  ever 
dreamed  that  he  had  cause  to  tremble  ? 

It  was  in  part  the  subject  of  my  last  discourse 
from  this  place  to  dissipate  the  monstrous  illusion 
of  those  who,  contrary  to  the  express  letter  and  spirit 
of  the  Gospel,  would  reconcile  their  salvation  with 
a  life  of  eternal  dissipation.  But  how  many  others, 
With  conscience  equally  tranquil,   would  seem  to 


284 

imagine  themselves  placed  upon  this  earth,  not  for 
the  happiness  of  others  temporal  or  everlasting,  but 
to  bask  and  batten  in  indolence  like  the  pampered 
animal  of  the  field?  What  said  the  generous  Uriah, 
when  pressed  by  David  to  inglorious  ease?  While 
the  soldiers  of  Israel  are  abroad,  and   front  every 
danger  for  the  salvation  of  the  children  of  God,  shall 
I  enter  my  house  to  eat  and  to  drink  ?  Education 
and  talents  may  vary  in  a  degree  the  nature  of  our 
service,  but  nothing  can  excuse  the  Christian  from 
vigorous  and  unceasiug  efforts  to  promote,  in  one 
way  or  another,  the  cause  of  God   and  of  society. 
It  is  impossible  to  open  the  sacred  writings  without 
finding  the  oblivion  of  this  inexorably  denounced. 
The  tree  that  displays  foliage  without  fruit  is  com- 
•  mitted  to  the  flames,  and  the  slothful  servant  is  cast 
out  into  exterior  darkness.     What  then  is  to  be  said 
of  those  indifferent  lookers  on ;  who  reap  largely 
in  a  field  that  they  have  not  sown?  What  of  that 
prosperity  which,  in  the  face  of  soliciting  religion 
and  country,  claims  the  contemptible  privilege  of 
having  nothing  to  do?  Like  mountains  remarkable 
only  for  their  sterility  and  elevation,  that  fatigue  the 
earth  with  their  burthen,    and    chill  it  with  their 
shadows ;  or  like  those  divinities  of  which  the  pro- 
phet  speaks,  whose  temples  were  adorned  with  all 
riches  and  art ;  and  whose  altars  smoked  with  the 
choicest  victims,  yet  who  took  neither  interest  nor 
part  in  the  administration  of  the  universe.     What- 
ever the  advantages  and  distinctions  of  our  situation 
may  be,  services  are  the  condition  by  which  we  hold 
and  enjoy  them  before  God  and  man.     If  we  be 


285 

raised  above  others,  it  is  not  for  the  purpose  of  spor- 
ting in  the  face  of  the  world  a  proud  and  disdainful 
inutility,  but  to  exist  in  the  whole  capacity  of  our 
being,  for  laborious  efforts  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  others,  temporal  and  everlasting ;  for  the  advance- 
ment of  religion  and  virtue,  the  shame  and  suppres- 
sion of  vice;  for  vigilant  activity,  and,  if  necessary, 
death,  in  support  of  social  order  and  the  laws,  the 
present  edification  of  our  youthful  brethren,  the  moral 
and  christian  cultivation  of  the  infant  generation,  the 
diffuse  and  ready  relief  of  all  calamity.  This  is  an 
outline  of  the  various  and  noble  usefulness  to  which 
we  are  called.  Woe  unto  them  who,  bound  to  know 
and  to  feel  their  inviolable  engagement  to  such  good, 
provide  nothing  for  their  epitaph,  but  that  they  vege- 
tated and  expired.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  hear  such 
Christians  descanting  with  grave  and  important  faces 
at  the  tables  of  luxurious  abundance,  on  the  decline, 
of  pious  principles  and  practice.  Insulting  language  ! 
The  cause  is  but  too  simple,  the  too  much  lack  of 
great  and  zealous  examples  in  both.  This  is  the 
true  rock  of  offence  to  youth.  It  is  not  to  see  here 
and  there  a  few  individuals  without  religion  or  morals, 
whose  worst  passions  are  their  only  divinities ;  reason 
alone  is  often  more  than  sufficient  antidote  against 
the  effects  of  such  poison.  But  it  is  the;  want  of 
adequate  inducement  to  avert  their  eyes  from  this 
specious  and  alluring  practice  of  semi-ehristians ; 
for  the  example  which  shocks  the  least,  is  that  which 
seduces  the  most.  Contagion  is  invariably  found  to 
spread  in  proportion  to  the  veil  that  covers  it. 


2N 


286 

There  is  still  another  class  of  setni-ehristians  to 
whom  I  owe  a  word ;  and  who  have  not  even  the 
eolour  of  mistake  to  excuse  them.  I  mean  those 
who,  with  the  best  intentions  and  most  zealous  dis- 
positions, are  deterred  from  exhibiting  the  example 
they  otherwise  would  afford,  by  the  apprehension  of 
being  classed  with  a  particular  sect,  which  the  world, 
to  cover  its  own  relaxations,  ingeniously  represents 
as  hanging  out  the  flag  of  primitive  manners.  With 
the  tenets  and  doctrines  of  others  I  have  nothing  to 
do ;  but  this  I  conceive  to  be  indubitable,  that  in 
point  of  practice  there  is  but  one  rule  for  all  Chris- 
tians ;  and  that  it  is  as  glorious  openly  to  do  honour 
to  it,  as  the  reverse  is  opprobrious  and  criminal,  let 
the  colour  or  pretext  be  what  it  may.  What !  my 
brethren,  to  sacrifice  our  convictions,  our  inclinations, 
our  souls,  from  dread  of  the  world's  ridicule !  To 
place  the  Supreme  Majesty  of  God  in  the  balance 
with  such  a  principle !  To  know  him,  I  may  say, 
only  in  secret,  while  the  world  has  our  open  homage ! 
Like  the  heathen,  to  reduce  him  to  the  degraded 
state  of  a  domestic  idol ;  or  like  Rachel,  to  conceal 
and  adore  him  in  our  tents  unknown  to  our  brethren  ! 
Thus  it  was,  with  one  of  the  first  and  most  celebrated 
disciples  of  our  Saviour.  This  progenitor  of  half 
Christians  vainly  persuaded  himself  that  God  would 
be  satisfied  with  the  private  declarations  of  his  senti- 
ments, but,  for  the  rest,  that  he  would  graciously 
condescend  to  dispense  with  his  outward  adoption 
of  a  system  to  which  the  world  attached  shame 
and  dishonour.  Is  not  this  precisely  the  state  of 
those  who  would  be  Christians  in  the  most  rigorous 


287 

and  exalted  sense  of  the  word ;  but  for  the  want  of 
resolution  to  encounter  the  same  formidable  conse- 
quence ?  Heavens  !  what  extremity  of  weakness  and 
dissimulation  is  this !  The  libertine  glories  in  his 
vice,  and  shall  Christians  blush  at  and  recoil  from 
the  highest  dignity  and  glory  of  their  character?  Is 
it  to  the  world  then  we  shall  be  responsible  ?  If  we 
be  sentenced,  will  the  world  stand  between  us  and 
the  execution?  If  the  Lord  justify  us,  what  matter 
who  ridicules  or  condemns  us  ?  Will  not  every  one 
carry  his  own  burthen  before  the  terrible  majesty  of 
him,  who  will  judge  the  world  and  its  judgments? 
Do  such  Christians  reflect  to  what  this  system  of  ser- 
vility and  complaisance  leads  ;  that  it  not  only  stands 
iu  the  way  of  the  infinite  good  their  example  would 
produce,  but  reduces  them  to  the  deplorable  necessity 
of  sanctioning  and  taking  part  in  practices  which 
they  secretly  detest;  of  becoming  with  their  eyes 
open,  and  with  somewhat  of  affection  in  their  hearts, 
the  cause  of  perdition  to  their  brethren  :  nay,  casting 
with  trembling  hands  their  very  children  into  the 
vortex  of  worldly  manners,  and  thus  training  them 
to  perish  in  the  face  of  a  menacing  religion,  and  that 
bleeding  affection,  that  agonizing  solicitude  for  their 
happiness,  present  and  everlasting,  which  nature  in- 
spires ? 

To  enumerate  all  the  consequences  of  this  unhappy 
principle  would  be  incompatible  with  my  limits ;  a 
principle  too  much  resembling,  and  perhaps  equal 
in  guilt  to  the  examples  we  have  of  early  apostacy 
from  the  faith.    For  when  a  Christian,  with  the  love 


288 

and  respect  of  religiou,  and  its  virtues  in  his  heart, 
yet  refuses  the  open  and  illustrious  testimony  he  oweg 
them,  no  matter  for  what  divinity  he  does  so.  It 
might  as  well  be  for  a  graven  image  as  for  the  world ; 
for  idols  of  Pagan  superstition,  as  for  the  idol  I  speak 
of.  Let  such  Christians  remember,  and  beware 
when  they  remember,  that  to  them  it  is  peculiarly 
said  :  "  He  that  denies  me  before  men,  him  will  I 
"  deny  before  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven. " 

I  may,  perhaps,  appear  to  have  wandered  in  a 
degree  from  my  subject,  in  proposing  the  immortal 
interests  of  the  creatures  before  us,  as  a  transcendent 
motive  in  support  of  this  great  institution.  I  think 
the  reverse  ;  for  how  could  I  have  impressed  it  more 
powerfully  on  your  souls,  than  by  shewing  that  it  is 
not  here  alone  we  are  called  to  such  ministry,  but 
that  the  whole  tenor  of  our  lives  should  be  zealously 
directed  to  the  honor,  the  glory,  the  progress  of  a 
divine  religion,  and  the  salvation  of  our  brethren  ? 
With  the  aid  of  that  victorious  grace  which  God  in 
his  mercy  sometimes  attaches  to  the  delivery  of  his 
word,  the  reflections  I  have  offered  on  this  subject 
may  produce  this  happy  and  double  effect ;  that  is, 
not  only  stimulate  and  renew  our  zeal  for  the  ever- 
lasting concern  of  those  I  plead  for,  but  Lad  us  to 
think  more  seriously  of  our  own.  After  all,  my 
brethren,  we  may  be  busy  about  many  things  :  but 
I  am  sure  we  have  had  melancholy  lessons  enough, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  of  the  instability  of 
life,  to  convince  and  remind  those  who  believe,  that 
there  is  strictly  but  one  thing  necessary.     1  pass  to 


289 

the  last  consideration,  I  mean  to  urge  on  this  occa- 
sion. 

Having  considered  this  institution,  from  the  en- 
larged scale  on  which  it  is  conducted,-  as  tending, 
in  a  superior  degree,  to  the  extinction  of  an  evil 
most  destructive  to  public  morals ;  having  likewise 
pressed  the  support  of  it  as  extensively  providing 
for  the  salvation  of  such  children,  it  remains  to  say 
a  word  on  their  temporal  destiny.  And  here,  my 
brethren,  the  appeal  addresses  itself  to  your  com- 
passion, that  feeling  for  calamity  which  it  has  plea- 
sed the  God  of  nature  to  implant,  though  in  different 
degrees,  in  every  human  heart,  and  the  God  of  re- 
velation to  enjoin  upon  all  Christians  as  a  superior 
and  indispensable  duty  ;  that  feeling  which  many, 
perhaps  all  of  you,  have- repeatedly  found  to  com- 
municate in  its  exercise  the  most  transporting  plea- 
sure ;  pleasure  which  leaves  behind  it  no  bitterness 
or  loathing  5  but  which,  ever  stimulated  by  the  past, 
ever  new  in  the*  present,  still  increases  in  proportion 
to  the  extent  and  extremity  of  the  misery  it  relieves. 
How  few  are  the  other  enjoyments  of  man,  that  can 
claim  this  distinction  and  encomium !  How  few  of 
them  are  supported  by  any  thing  but  the  intoxication 
of  the  senses,  or  the  illusions  of  vanity !  I  see  the 
child  of  dissipation  wandering  like  the  bee  from 
flower  to  flower ;  but  less  fortunate  in  his  labour, 
collecting  nothing  for  his  home,  but  the  melancholy 
provision  of  weariness  and  disgust.  1  see  the  man 
of  ambition  toiling  incessantly,  sacrificing  repose, 
property  and  health,  sometimes  even  probity  and 


290 

honour,  for  objects  that  either  vanish  from  the  grasp, 
or  lose  their  fascination  after  a  short  interval  of  pos- 
session. I  see  the  enamoured  of  worldly  reputation 
often  reaping  no  other  fruit  from  their  distinction, 
than  to  hear  it  ascribed  by  the  envious  to  popular 
error.  I  see  the  mercenary  drudging  through  life, 
merely  to  die  in  the  possession  of  what  they  never 
enjoyed.  I  see  all  human  passions  carrying  with 
them  their  own  punishment  and  torment.  Even  the 
soft  flatterer  hope,  embittering  by  its  suspense  and 
anxiety ;  and  where  hope  is  no  more,  I  see  deeper 
misery  still.  In  short,  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
world,  and  its  votaries,  I  see  the  severest,  yet  most 
righteous  penalties,  providentially  inflicted  on  that 
error  which  seeks  for  felicity,  out  of  the  arms  of 
benevolence  and  virtue.  If  we  look  into  the  causes 
of  love  and  respect,  we  shall  find  none  more  certain 
or  more  powerful  than  the  interest  which  we  teach 
the  unfortunate,  to  take  in  our  existence  and  preser- 
vation. The  truly  benevolent  are  more  than  beloved  ; 
they  are  adored.  The  blessings  of  the  poor,  and 
the  reverence  of  all  are  shed  on  them  as  they  pass ; 
and  many  a  name  in  this  nation  will  be  embalmed 
in  holy  recollection,  when  those  of  heroes  and  states- 
men are  forgotten ;  even  that  of  him,  who  now  fills 
the  world  with  astonishment  and  calamity.  Nay, 
such  is  the  sacred ness  which  such  characters  some- 
times carry  along  with  them,  that  it  has  been  known, 
in  the  very  hour  of  convulsion,  to  stand  between 
them  and  the  undistinguishing  steel  of  bigotry  and 
treason.  In  the  very  countenances  of  these  children, 
you  may  read  the  tender  impression  which  your 


291 

humanity  produces  on  their  hearts.  If  they  love 
and  respect  any  thing  under  heaven,  it  is  you  ;  and 
even  me,  at  this  moment.  That  miserable  and  Hu- 
miliating dependance,  to  which  the  destiny  of  their 
birth  had  reduced  them,  is  forgotten  in  the  tumult 
of  such  feelings.  Every  kind  and  compassionate 
look  we  cast  upon  them,  gives  them  that  innocent 
but  happy  consequence  in  their  own  eyes,  which  is 
beyond  all  expression.  This  is  the  indisputable 
effect  of  such  benefits  as  you  confer  on  them ;  that 
the  self-affection  which  nature  inspires,  becomes  in- 
separably coupled  with  ardent  affection  for  those  to 
whose  mercy  they  owe  all  the  blessings  they  enjoy; 
and  if  on  this,  and  every  day  of  this  nature,  we  pre- 
sent them  with  a  bond  of  renewal,  they  offer  us, 
they  visibly  offer  us,  in  return,  the  glistening  and 
heart-affecting  discharge  of  that  great  obligation. 
Oh,  my  brethren,  what  it  is  to  be  merciful !  Not  all 
that  the  world  could  lay  in  profusion  at  our  feet, 
would  ultimately  and  permanently  bless  us  without 
the  conscious  possession  of  this  god-like  virtue. 

Great  was  the  design  of  God  in  this  decree.  He 
foresaw  the  infinite  temptations,  which  the  world 
presents  to  the  abuse  of  his  gifts ;  but  the  wretched 
are  his  creatures.  He,  therefore,  mercifully  com- 
bines our  felicity  with  their  relief,  and  even  crowns 
it  here  below  with  honour  and  glory. 

Though  I  proposed,  in  this  concluding  part  of  my 
discourse,  to  seize  every  feature  in  the  temporal  con- 
dition of  these  children,  that  could  speak  with  any 


292 

power  to  your  hearts,  on  reflection,  would  it  not  look 
like  doubt ;  would  it  not  appear  that,  in  so  doing, 
I  was  addressing  you  for  the  first,  or  nearly  for  the 
first  time,  in  this  cause ;  or,  that  I  deemed  the  so- 
lemn and  sacred  motives  which  I  have  already  urged, 
insufficient  to  decide  you?  No,  my  brethren,  1  do 
more  than  depend  on  what  has  been  said.  I  con- 
sider the  fate  of  this  institution,  though  not  a  word 
were  uttered  in  support  of  it,  to  be  happily  determi- 
ned. It  is  more  in  obedience  to  my  nature  and  ha- 
bits, that  on  these  occasions  1  cast  about  for  new 
ground,  and  am  warm  in  addressing  you,  than  from 
any  sense  of  its  necessity.  When  I  plead  with  you 
for  other  objects,  I  descend  from  this  place  with 
trembling  anxiety  as  to  the  issue ;  but  for  the  cause 
I  now  plead,  God  in  his  superior  mercy  has  long, 
long  attached  this  proved  distinction  ;  that  it  comes, 
it  is  seen,  it  conquers.  Yes,  my  brethren,  he  has 
placed  it  on  an  eminence  from  which  it  never  can 
fall,  without  grasping,  in  that  event,  all  the  pillars 
of  religion  and  compassion,  and  mixing  them  in  one 
common  ruin  for  ever.  While  woman  glories  in 
unspotted  virtue,  or  man  generously  recoils  from  the 
arts  and  trade  of  the  villain,  who  seduces  and  de- 
stroys, can  it  want  ardent  and  plighted  protectors  ? 
Oh,  my  brethren,  how  often  have  I  painted  in  the 
colours  which  my  imagination  could  supply,  the 
destiny  of  such  children  when  deserted !  Such  pu- 
rity handed  over  to  shameless  vice !  such  forms  to 
loathsomeness  and  disease  !  such  infinite  title  to  com- 
miseration to  nakedness,  and  famiue,  and  all  varieties 
of  wretchedness  !  such  finished  candidates  for  a  ca* 


293 

peer  of  virtue  and  a  blessed  futurity,  to  curse  the  hour 
they  were  born  through   time  and   eternity !  But  ) 
forget  my  resolution  of  leaving  you  to  the  influence 
of  past  impressions.     These  are  the  objects  that  pro- 
duced,  and  will  renew  them.     These  are  the  crea- 
tures that  have  long  led  you  to  reflect  on  the  horrors 
and  disasters  that  exist  around  you ;  and  have  given 
you  to  know  how  far  it  is  possible  to  approach  Hea- 
ven in  the  feeling  that  prevents  and  deplores  them. 
Those  are  the  objects  that  have  contributed  most  to 
constitute  this  city.    What,  my  brethren?  Why,  the 
capital  of  Christian  mercy  throughout  the  Christian 
world.     Yea,  those  little  orphans;  orphans  did   I 
say  ?  Even  that  title  you  will  recollect ;  though  fa- 
miliar to  every  ear,  though  repeated  in  every  breath, 
it  is  worthy  of  a  pause.     For  to  the  heart  that  feels, 
it  says  infinite  things.     May  God  defend   our  chil- 
dren from  the  misfortune.     The  appeal  is  indeed 
here  strong  to  the  feelings  of  those,  who  know  what 
it  is  to  love  and  adore  their  own.     Let  then  this 
calamitous  distinction  in  the  children    before  you, 
have  its  weight  in  your  recollections :  as  your  own 
are  dear  to  your  hearts,  the  delight  of  your  eyes^ 
and  the  sources  of  your   happiness  ;    as   the   very 
thought  of  their  becoming  orphans  at  a  tender  age 
chills  you  with  consternation,  continue  to  be  the  pa- 
rent of  the  parentless.     For,  not  one  in  that  multi- 
tude, or  the  multitude  that  has  passed  through   this 
institution,  in  the  course  of  years,  ever  remembers  to 
have  been  warmed  in  any  bosom,  or  caressed  by  any 
hand  but  yours.     This  is  truly  an  interesting  con- 
sideration ;  and  were  it  possible  to  consult  the  ashes 

2  0 


294 

of  the  dead,  perhaps  we  might  learn  that  the  founda- 
tion-stone of  this  charity  was  laid  by  the  irresistible 
effect  of  the  single  word  Orphan,  but  above  all, 
Ffmale  Orphan,  on  the  most  compassionate  of 
hearts  ! 

I  will  trouble  you  no  more.    That  this  appeal  has 
been  brought  forward  at  an  unpropitious  period  of 
the  season  I  do  deeply  lament,  and  lament  the  more, 
my  brethren,  as  the  misfortune  has  chiefly  arisen  from 
the  condition  of  my  health.     God  knows  how  I  have 
felt,  and  with  what  difficulty  I  have  met  you  on  this 
clay.    Should  the  event  be  fortunate,  1  shall  be  bles- 
sed ;    should  it  not,  which  Heaven   avert !    I  shall 
be  resigned  to  the  first  cloud  that  has  ever  obscured 
the  brilliant  face  of  this  cause.     In  your  hands  and 
hearts  is  that  event,  but  peculiarly  with  Him  who 
rules  the  feelings  of  every  heart  as  he  lists.     If  I 
behold  around  me  less  affluence  than  would  have 
been  at  a  more  favourable  time,  I  behold   still  the 
same  fulness  and   elevation  of  mercy.     And  where 
that  divine  and  mighty  priuciple  exists,  it  will  hear 
me  ;  it  cannot  but  hear  me,  when  I  conjure  it  to  view, 
and  feel  for  the  only  situation  of  peril  in  which  this 
great  and  popular  institution  was  ever  placed.     A 
double  exertion  from  every  individual  in  this  place, 
at  such  a  crisis,  is  what  my  long,   long  knowledge 
of  you  teaches  me  to  look  for.     What  to  you  will 
be  little ;    what  to  you  when  done,  will  be  more 
happiness  than  ever,  to  the  cause  more  Striking  evi- 
dence of  its  merits  and  stability  than  ever,  to  God  a 
more  striking  tribute  of  honor  and  glory  than  ever. 
Amen. 


SERMON  XIII. 


[For  the  Poor  Chrildren  of  the  Parish  of  St.  Nicholas  Without^ 
March  10,  1805.] 

Job,  v.,  v.  7. 
Man  is  lorn  to  trouble,  as  the  sparks  fly  upward. 

I  SHALL  offer  no  apology,  my  brethren,  for 
directing  a  short  portion  of  your  attention  to  a  sub- 
ject, not  immediately  connected  with  that  which  has 
brought  us  together.  It  presents  itself,  alas!  too 
imperiously  to  my  mind ;  and  I  shall,  therefore,  I 
trust,  find  an  excuse  in  your  hearts,  when  I  call  you 
to  recollect  that  man,  in  every  situation  of  life,  from 
the  cottage  to  the  throne,  is  born  to  trouble,  as  the 
sparks  fly  upwards ;  and  that  blessed  are  they  who, 
under  every  visitation  of  heaven,  have  learned  to  bear 
with  submission,  and  where  to  draw  for  consolation. 
Unhappily,  my  brethren,  every  day  too  much  dis- 
plays our  activity  in  the  pursuit  of  shadows,  and 
every  day  finishes,  by  calling  on  the  night  to  renew 
our  powers  for  the  same  chace  on  the  morrow. 

It  is  easier  to  sound  the  depth  of  the  ocean,  than 
the  immeasurable  folly  of  human  inclinations.  The 
heart  of  man  is  a  labyrinth,  of  whose  embarrassed 
and  uncertain  ways,  God  alone  can  have  a  know- 
ledge.    Light,  inconstant,  eternally  at  variance  with 


296 

himself,  he  forms  desires  that  are  as  suddenly  de- 
stroyed by  other  desires.  He  loves  every  thing; 
he  loves  nothing.  What  pleased  him  yesterday, 
displeases  him  to-day  :  the  ohject  is  the  same,  the 
ailectiou  is  changed.  Though  the  world  should  put 
him  in  possession  of  all  its  delights,  and  all  its  en- 
joyments, they  would  he  insufficient  to  fix  and  satisfy; 
for  he  has  one  attachment  nearly  invincibly  incom- 
patible with  rest  and  content,  namely,  an  everlasting 
attachment  to  change  and  novelty. 

The  love  of  happiness  is  essential  to  \\h  being. 
When  the  appearance  presents  itself,  he  flies  to  it 
with  rapidity.  The  moment  that  commences,  nearly 
puts  a  period  to  his  enjoyment.  What  does  it  serve 
ns  to  possess,  when  we  never  cease  to  desire?  Such 
is,  too  truly,  the  prevailing  character  of  man,  till  the 
trouble  arrives  that  brings  wisdom  on  its  gloomy 
wings,  and  tells  him,  too  clearly,  that  he  is  to  look 
for  true  and  durable  felicity  only  beyond  the  grave. 
It  is  thus,  my  brethren,  that  God,  in  his  peculiar 
mercy,  prevents  us  from  burying  our  hearts  and  af- 
fections in  the  dust  we  trample  on.  It  is  thus,  he 
inspires  a  noble  sentiment  for  our  everlasting  coun- 
try. It  is  thus  that  he  dissolves,  often  in  a  moment, 
the  intoxication  of  fugitive  possessions,  in  the  soul 
of  an  immortal  being,  whom  he  has  greatly  destined 
to  take  possession  even  of  himself.  How  few  would 
envy  tbe  mt>st  exalied  condition  of  human  prosperity, 
were  they  given,  by  such  salutary  means,  to  reflect 
on  its  obligations,  its  dangers,  and   its  eares !  What 

it,  in  the  eye  of  religion,  but  an  awful  distinction, 


297 

which,  by  raising  us  above  other  men,  obliges  us  to 
more  eminence  in  virtue,  and  virtuous  example ;  or, 
if  accompanied  by  office  and  authority,  but  a  strict 
subjection,  which  multiplies  our  duties,  fills  up  every 
moment  of  our  lives,  and  renders  us  at  best,  but 
honourable  victims  of  the  public  ? 

What  are  its  riches,  but  a  sacred  deposit,  which 
God  has  intrusted  to  our  hand,  to  be  touched  with 
discretion  and  trembling,  save  for  purposes  of  hu- 
manity alone  ?  What  are  its  pleasures,  but,  generally, 
either  vices  to  be  abhorred,  or  puerilities  to  be  de- 
spised ? 

Woe  to  those  whom  God  has  not  deemed  worthy 
to  be  enlightened  on  those  truths  !  Look  to  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory ;  the  immensity  of  his  treasures ;  the 
magnificence  of  his  palaces ;  his  flourishing  states ; 
beloved  of  his  subjects  ;  respected  by  his  neighbours ; 
celebrated  and  admired  through  every  region  of  the 
earth.  Then,  turn  from  this  dazzling  picture  of  all 
human  prosperity,  to  contemplate  Job,  deprived,  in  a 
moment,  of  all  his  earthly  possessions ;  the  children 
he  adored,  torn,  in  a  moment,  from  his  embrace  j 
cruelly  abandoned  by  his  relations ;  basely  insulte<J 
by  his  friends ;  stretched  upon  a  dunghill,  naked  an4 
forlorn ;  his  body  covered  with  putrifying  sores ;  ii} 
a  word,  reduced  to  a  situation  which  no  imaginatioil 
can  fix  on,  without  extraordinary  horror ! 

Which  of  the  two,  my  brethren,  do  you  conceive 
to  have  been  most  favoured  of  God,  the  man  whon} 


298 

excessive  prosperity  plunged  at  length  into  the  very 
abyss  of  impurity  ;  or  he  whose  unparalleled  adver- 
sity became,  at  once,  the  proof  and  triumph  of  his 
virtue?  I  need  not  say  what  the  answer  of  a  true 
Christian  would  be,  or  of  any  individual  capable  of 
distinguishing  the  true  sublime  of  the  human  charac- 
ter! 

It  is  not  the  gloomy  visitation  of  a  being,  averse 
to  the  repose  of  his  creatures,  much  less  of  a  jealous 
tyrant,  who  delights  in  their  sufferings,  but  the  mer- 
ciful interference  of  a  tender  father,  to  arrest  the  per- 
dition of  his  children.  This  is  the  sole  end  proposed, 
by  every  ill  that  afflicts  the  individual  or  desolates 
societies. 

In  all  the  various  horrors  and  calamities  of  war, 
we  should  behold  alone  the  outstretched  arm  of  God ; 
in  conquerors  and  heroes,  the  winged  messengers  of 
his  vengeance;  in  plague,  pestilence,  and  famine, 
:he  awful  variety  of  his  terrific  lessons  ;  in  the  whole 
-rain  of  wretchedness,  private  or  social,  to  which  man 
s  heir,  the  operation  of  that  infinite  wisdom  and 
mercy,  which  would  embitter  one  portion  of  our  ex- 
istence, tor  the  everlasting  felicity  of  the  other.  But 
are  there  not,  in  the  treasures  of  divine  mercy,  means 
of  instruction  to  man,  less  severe  but  equally  power- 
ful ?  Less  severe  if  you  will,  but  rarely  so  powerful. 
Grod  would  lead  us  to  what  is  right  by  the  light  of 
reason  :  this  natural  resource  ought,  in  itself,  to  be 
sufficient  to  stem  the  force  of  human  passions.  I 
know  nothing  that  ambition  eagerly  climbs  for,  or 
interest  grasos  at,  or  pleasure  pursues,  or  the  baser 


299 

propensities  of  man  are  known  to  indulge  in,  that 
inspire  not  the  pity  and  contempt  of  deliberate  reason. 

By  the  aid  of  this  single  principle,  many  heathens 
learned  to  despise  what  Christians  adore,  and  to 
place  their  happiness  where  Christians  place  it  not, 
in  the  practice  of  virtue  alone. 

Tf  the  influence  of  religion,  in  regulating  the  con- 
duct, be  rare,  that  of  philosophy  is  unknown.  Every 
day  presents  the  example  of  men  of  superior  mental 
endowments  ;  many  whose  talents  and  knowledge 
would  lit  them  for  the  highest  and  most  difficult  pur- 
poses of  society  ;  many  to  whom  scarce  any  thing  in 
the  volume  of  nature  is  a  secret,  either  on  the  earth 
beneath,  or  in  the  heavens  above ;  many  who  en- 
lighten by  their  writings,  or  charm  by  their  elo- 
quence :  every  day,  I  say,  the  world  beholds  men 
of  this  favoured  description,  as  weak  in  their  pur- 
suits as  they  are  corrupt  in  their  morals,  running 
with  the  herd  of  fools  the  gaudy  ring  of  all  its  follies ; 
equally  fascinated  by  pomp,  by  shew,  by  equipage, 
by  costly  decorations,  costly  entertainments,  and  all 
the  splendid  pageants  of  vanity ;  not  unfrequently 
steeped  to  the  very  lips  in  its  most  degrading  vices. 

So  little  effect  has  even  the  highest  degree  of  rea- 
son, on  the  weakness  and  passions  of  man  !  Nor  doth 
God,  in  the  general,  more  effectually  instruct  us  by 
other  means.  Too  often,  in  vain,  is  the  volume  of 
his  law,  with  all  its  promises  and  terrors,  expanded 
before  us.     In  vain  do  his  ministers  cry  aloud  ou 


300 

the  dangers  and  abuse  of  a  too  fortunate  condition. 
u  I  have  called  upon  them  in  their  abundance,"  says 
the  Lord,  u  and  they  will  not  hear."  In  vain  does 
he  call  on  us  to  recollect  him,  in  the  sublime  and 
ravishing  spectacle  of  creation.  In  vain  does  he  lay 
before  us  the  example  of  others,  victims  of  every 
degree  and  of  every  nature.  In  the  midst  of  all  in- 
ducements to  reflection,  all  ground  of  alarm,  lethar- 
gic and  insensible  in  the  calm  and  painted  bosom  of 
prosperity  ;  it  is  the  tempest  alone  that  imperiously 
lifts  our  eyes,  to  the  great  and  insulted  author  of  our 
benefits.  Affliction  is  become  almost  our  only  school ; 
and  if  it  be  necessary  to  tear  up  the  bosom  of  the 
earth,  in  order  to  force  it  to  produce  fruits,  so  is  it 
equally  the  human  heart,  to  give  it  fertility  in  wisdom 
and  virtue.  All  experience,  and  all  Scripture  prove, 
that  there  is  not,  under  heaven,  a  source  of  more  in- 
curable blindness  and  depravity,  than  prosperity  un- 
mixed with  tribulation.  The  most  enlightened  amongst 
the  heathens  decided  it  to  be  a  more  difficult  and 
glorious  conquest  in  man  over  himself,  to  support 
such  a  state  without  degradation,  than  the  worst  ills 
with  heroic  fortitude.  And  for  this  plain  reason, 
that  the  former,  from  the  power  which  it  affords  of 
indulging  the  passions,  as  naturally  relaxes  the  noble 
energies  of  the  mind,  as  the  latter  calls  them  forth 
into  superior  and  dignified  action. 

For  one  example,  where  the  benefits  of  God  have 
not  caused  him  to  be  forgotten,  there  are  innumerable 
in  Holy  Writ,  where  his  chastisements  alone  could 
bring  him  to  the  recollection  of  his  ungrateful  crea- 


301 


lures.  It  was  only  while  the  Israelites  groaned  un- 
der the  yoke  of  Babylon,  that  they  thought  of  in- 
voking "  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac,  and  of 
46  Jacob."  Nor  do  we  find  among  the  vast  multitude 
that  followed  Jesus  Christ  in  the  course  of  bis  min- 
istry, more  than  three,  who,  in  the  remotest  degree, 
could  be  styled  ehikirafe  uf  prosperity.  All  the  rest 
were,  exclusively,  those  whom  the  pressure  of  various 
and  excessive  affliction  forced  to  cry  aloud,  "Son 
"  of  David,  have  mercy  upon  us." 

So  true  is  it  that  affliction,  of  whatever  nature  it; 
may  be,  is  the  surest  principle  of  our  return  to  God  ; 
and  that  his  temples  are  never  more  frequented  than 
when  his  judgments  lean  heavy  on  the  earth !  If 
more  evidence  were  necessary,  we  have  it  in  the 
strong  language  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  Apostles, 
on  the  fatal  consequences  of  prosperity,  in  which  I 
see  no  ground  of  hope  or  consolation,  but  that  ex- 
ceptions are  not  declared  impossible. 

Every  Christian  concerned  will  naturally  apply 
that  ground  of  confidence  to  himself;  and  hence  the 
source  of  a  too  general  and  dangerous  tranquillity. 
I  am  not  ignorant  that  many  over- ingenious  Chris- 
tians have  found  out  the  secret  of  persuading  them- 
selves, that  all  the  denunciations  in  this  case  are 
merely  held  out  to  terrify.  This  is  certainly  a  very 
happy  and  convenient  discovery,  should  it  not  un- 
fortunately be  refuted  by  the  same  experience  as  thai 
of  the  rich  man  in  the  parable.    On  this  principle 


3P 


302 

we  may  faney  a  security  in  the  mercy  of  God  to  every 
enormity. 

For  ine,  I  deem  it  better  to  recommend  attention 
to  the  letter  of  the  law,  and  firm  conviction  that  he? 
who,  either  in  the  possession  or  desire  of  wealth  and 
prosperity,  becomes  exclusively  enamoured  of  the 
present,  has  cause  to  be  alarmed  if  he  have  faith ;  or 
if  he  have  faith  and  be  not  alarmed,  may  set  himself 
down  as  a  victim. 

But  it  may  be  said,  that,  if  occasional  trials  be  a 
check  on  the  natural  tendency  of  prosperity  to  cor- 
rupt, they  often  likewise  add  the  guilt  of  murmur  and 
revolt  against  God.  True,  my  brethren,  Pharoah 
remained  hardened,  under  the  most  dreadful  and 
extraordinary  experience  of  divine  visitation.  But 
to  this  I  answer ;  shew  me  the  benefit  of  God  which 
man  does  not  abuse !  Why,  therefore,  not  sometimes 
abuse  his  chastisements?  If  we  sometimes  behold 
wretches  approaching  even  death  in  all  its  terrors, 
with  sounds  of  blasphemy  on  their  lips,  what  does 
it  prove,  but  that  affliction  is  still  an  extraordinary 
mercy,  since  nothing  but  extreme  iniquity  can  resist 
it? 

If  it  do  not  invariably  reclaim,  may  not  another 
reason  be,  that  every  expedient  is  employed  to  pre- 
vent its  salutary  impression?  What  is  the  ordinary 
conduct  of  worldlings,  when  the  career  of  their  vices 
or  their  follies  is  embittered  by  some  unexpected 
Ice,  but  instantly  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way 


SOS 

of  reflection,  by  plunging  deeper  and  deeper  into  ail 
excesses?  Flying  with  renewed  rapidity  from  one 
scene  of  tumult  and  dissipation  to  another,  often 
deluging  their  reason  in  brutal  intoxication.  Thus 
proving,  as  I  before  said,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
doubt,  the  effect  of  affliction,  since  it  requires  such 
study  and  stratagem  to  render  it  abortive. 

Again  what  a  blessing,  where  it  does  not  reclaim, 
that  it  goes  frequently  to  prevent  the  possibility  of 
further  offence  !    When  disease  and  infirmity  con- 
demn a  woman  to  retreat,  whose  life  has  been  passed 
in  supponing  the  empire  of  dissipation,  what,  though 
the  humiliating  ravage  on  her  person  be  not  sufficient 
to  detach  her  affeciw,ls  from  a  World  that  abandons 
her,  it  is  euough  that  the  ^j0j  }s  no  longer  on  the 
altar,  and  the  cause  of  virtue  and  religion  benefitted 
by  its  misfortune.     Or  suppose  a  libertine,  cut  off, 
by  a  broken  constitution  and  mouldering  frame,  from 
pursuits,  that  cover  families    with    mourning,    and 
society  with  hapless  prostitutes  ;  surely,  though  such 
wretches  should  resist  the  intended  mercy  of  God, 
and  still  glory  and  feed  on  the  recollection  of  their 
brutal  achievements;  surely,  there  is  at  least  a  ground 
to  rejoice,  that  the  early  and  just  judgment  of  God 
becomes  a  source  of  happiness  and  salvation  to  mul- 
titudes of  unprotected  innocents.     1  have  done  with 
this  view  of  the  subject.     You  have  seen,  in  the  best 
light  I  could  place  it,  the  general  and  salutary  effect 
of  affliction.     It  shall  be  the  object  of  one  or  two 
reflections  more,  to  shew  how  a  Christian  ought  to 
suffer. 


304  -  ; 

Nothing  is  more  coiamon  than  to  hear  Christians 
reproaching  those  who  would  alarm  them  on  the 
perils  of  their  condition,  with  perfect  ignorance  of 
many  severe  trials  to  which  even  the  highest  state 
of  prosperity  is  exposed.  You  are  deceived,  my 
brethren ;  we  are  not  ignorant  what  many  are  doom- 
ed to  experience  in  this  way.  We  know  that  the 
world  is  a  flattering  tyrant,  that  conducts  its  votaries 
in  pomp  and  decoration  to  the  sacrifice.  We  know 
that  every  state,  as  every  passion,  has  its  peculiar 
victims. 

One  man,  in  the  solitude  of  his  study,  will  wither 
over  the  productions  of  his  genius,  3*>d  sacrifice  an 
age  of  life  and  enjoyment,  fo»*  -"  instant  of  reputa- 
tion. Another  will  pas«^liatety  devote  every  faculty 
of  his  mind,  and  every  hour  of  his  life,  to  the  allure- 
ment of  dignities  and  honours ;  thus  blindly  sacri- 
iicing.the  substantial  happiness  within  his  power,  in 
the  pursuit  of  brilliant  chimeras.  Some  become  the 
miserable  sport  of  a  passion  for  glory:  some  the 
suffering  and  degraded  victims  of  a  passion  for  mo- 
ney ;  at  once  the  scorn  of  mankind,  the  horror  of 
religion,  and,  by  a  just  judgment,  carrying  within 
their  breasts  the  ever- waking  principle  of  their  tor- 
ment. 

Alas  !  my  brethren,  if  religion  have  had  its  niar- 
fyrs,  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  martyrs  are  to  be 
found  within  the  circle  of  the  world's  reputed  en- 
joyments. But  the  truth,  the  awful  truth  I  would 
impress  is  this ;  that  he  who  suffers  for  reputation  or 


305 

ihe  things  of  this  earth,  has  to  look  for  his  recom- 
pense where  he  has  placed  his  heart.  He  ma\  re- 
ceive it,  or  he  may  not;  that  is,  the  ambitious  may 
have  his  power  and  honour ;  the  avaricious  his  gold ; 
the  soldier  his  laurels  ;  the  man  of  taleuts  his  name ; 
but  there  is  no  crown  for  the  affliction  of  the  Chris- 
tian, in  whatever  state  it  may  be  fouad,  or  from  what- 
ever passion  it  may  arise,  if  it  be  not  ultimately 
sanctified  by  religion, 

Though  his  life  should  be  exposed  to  a  thousand 
perils,  and  even  his  body  so  mutilated,  as  scarcely 
one  half  of  the  individual  to  sn^ive  the  other,  in  the 
service  of  hi«  country :  if  nis  motives  be  not  Christian, 
he  will,  with  respect  to  his  immortal  prospects,  have 
suffered  in  vain :  for,  nothing  but  what  is  referred 
to  God  can  return  to  God. 

In  the  next  place,  it  is  necessary  we  should  endure 
our  portion  of  ills  with  profound  resignation.  The 
calling  of  a  Christian  is  the  imitation  of  Christ. 
Sublime  as  such  a  destination  may  be,  St.  Paul 
expressly  lays  it  down  as  indispensable.  "  For 
"  whom  he  did  foreknow,  he  also  did  predestinate  to 
"  be  conformed  to  the  image  of  his  Son." 

It  is  not  given  to  man  to  suspend  the  career  of 
nature ;  to  appease  the  ocean  aud  the  storm,  or  give 
animation  to  the  grave.  Jesus  Christ  did  not  save 
by  the  glorious  demonstration  of  his  power,  but  by 
his  sufferings  and  humiliations. 


306 

What  was  therefore  the  great  example  of  the 
divine  justice,  we  are  required  to  make  the  close 
and  eager  object  of  our  imitations.  It  is  not  meant 
however,  that,  to  become  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ, 
we  are  to  run  in  search  of  afflictions,  which  provi- 
dence may  not  have  designed  for  us  ;  since  in  defect 
of  these,  a  true  spirit  of  evangelical  detachment  is 
sufficient  to  establish  our  conformity  to  that  divine 
model.  But  I  say,  for  the  consolation  of  the  afflicted 
Christian,  that  his  conformity  with  that  model  is 
most  perfect ;  for  Jesus  Christ  became,  not  in  theory 
but  in  practice,  the  man  of  sorrow,  and  emptied  the 
cup  which  his  FatW*  presented  him,  to  the  lees,  for 
the  salvation  of  mankind. 

Wherever,  therefore,  I  see  affliction  supported  with 
heavenly  patience,  I  see  the  blessed  reproduction 
of  our  divine  Masters  example.  Nor  do  I  hesi- 
tate to  say,  that,  after  God,  there  is  nothing  so  sa- 
cred on  earth,  as  a  just  man  rising  superior  to  af- 
fliction. Though  Job,  in  the  season  of  his  prosperity, 
was  celebrated  through  his  nation  for  justice  and 
probity ;  though  he  was  eminently,  as  we  read,  the 
father  of  the  orphan  and  the  indigent,  it  was  not  this, 
that  so  much  proved  the  greatness  of  his  character, 
as  the  divinity  of  his  patience  in  that  horrible  ex- 
tremity where  deception  was  impossible.  It  is  not 
when  the  ocean  is  calm  and  the  heavens  serene,  that 
we  pronounce  Ion  the  ability  of  the  pilot. 

Behold  the  majestic  oak,  whose  towering  and 
pompous  head  is  tormented  by  the  storm !  though 


307 

the  earth  be  strewed  around  with  the  wreck  of  its 
luaucbca,  the  mighty  trunk  remains  firm  and  un- 
shaken amidst  the  iury  of  the  elements.  Such  is  the 
grand  and  immoveable  position  of  the  Christian 
amidst  the  blasts  of  tribulation.  Some  decree  of 
fortitude  has  in  such  cases  been  inspired  by  philoso- 
phy ;  but  more  than  fortitude,  more  than  submission ; 
yes,  peace  and  joy  can  belong  only  to  the  disciple 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

This  it  was  that  confounded  the  Caesars ;  abashed 
their  bloody  instruments,  and  gave  to  Christianity 
the   empire  of  the   world.     Paul,  astonishing  the 
proudest  sages  of  Athens  and  of  Rome  by  his  sub- 
lime and  sacred  eloquence ;  Paul,  adored  at  Ephesus 
as  a  god  ;  Paul,  healing  thc  leased,  and  enlighten- 
ing nations,  uiu  nut  trunk  himself  as  worthy  of  his 
divine  Master  by  all  his  labours  and  prodigies,  as 
by  the  chains  he  wore ;  and  yet,  my  brethren,  how 
few  of  us  receive  affliction  as  we  ought!  What  sal- 
lies of  impatience,  when  it  is  any  thing  like  extreme  I 
"What  efforts  to  extract  the  salutary  dart  from  our 
bosoms !    Where  is  the  Christian  sublime  enough, 
even  to  invoke  it  as  the  only  real  test  of  virtue, 
which  too  nearly  resembles  those  precious  plants, 
that  require  to  be  pressed  and  bruised,  in  order  to 
extract  their  perfume!  Alas,  my  brethren,   we  do 
not  even  generously  and  gratefully  recollect,  how 
peculiarly  Heaven  has  favoured  us  under  the  ills  we 
know ;  that  we  possess  various  resources  denied  to 
thousands  of  our  fellow- creatures  ;  that  in  many  ex- 
tremities, our  abundance  supplies  multiplied  aids 


308 

ami  attentions ;  that  in  all,  and  perhaps  the  severest 
of  all,  when  the  tomb  **as  devoured  P*»  person  dear- 
est to  onr  hearts,  our  tears  have  a  wider  refuge  in 
the  sympathy  of  friends.  In  a  word,  that  if  we 
placed  in  a  balance,  on  the  one  hand  our  afflictions, 
and  on  the  other  our  consolations,  we  should  find 
yet  more  to  nurse  our  corruption,  than  to  promote 
our  salvation. 

Great  God  !  did  we  rightly  consider  the  condition 
of  those  beings,  who  are  born  to  the  extreme  of  all 
calamity,  who,  in  the  bed  of  disease,  or  amidst  the 
honors  of  intolerable  poverty,  scarce  know  one  gleam 
of  comfort ;  to  whom  the  slenderest  relief,  or  casual 
accent  of  pity  is  sudden  happiness  and  joy !  it  is 
then,  we  should  learn  wiw  t0  think  of  our  own  af- 
flictions, which  borrow  their  bitterness  uuly  trom  ha- 
bits of  too  much  felicity :  it  is  then,  that  our  want 
of  submission  would  be  changed  into  ardent  thanks- 
giving;  and  that,  less  occupied  by  the.  few  trials 
that  fall  to  our  lot,  than  by  the  affecting  conviction 
of  those  we  have  been  spared,  we  should  rather 
tremble  at  the  indulgence  of  Heaven,  than  complain 
of  its  severity. 

Methinks  I  cannot  select  a  more  proper  moment, 
for  bringing  the  cause  of  those  children  to  your  re- 
collection. 

Though  I  have  presumed  to  employ  the  time, 
usually  devoted  on  those  occasions,  either  to  general 
reflections  on  the  virtue  of  charity,  or  the  benefit  of 


309 

religions  education,  I  trust  in  God,  that  thisy  my  first 
deviation  from  common  practice,  will  not  prove  in- 
jurious. Perhaps,  when  you  reflect  that  it  has  saved 
me  the  necessity  of  torturing  a  most  barren  topic, 
and  you  the  pain  of  hearing  it  tortured,  I  may  the 
more  readily  be  excused. 

If  these  children  possess,  in  common  with  all  of 
their  class,  a  clear  title  to  your  protection,  they  like- 
wise possess,  as  most  of  you  I  believe  know,  another 
nearly  peculiar  to  themselves.  On  this  distinction 
I  have  likewise  often  dwelt,  and  found  in  the  result 
of  those  repeated  appeals  in  their  behalf,  that  extra- 
ordinary cases  have  invariably  produced  extraordi- 
nary mercy.  Were  it  the  fortune  of  this  institution, 
not  to  interest,  as  it  has  done,  the  upper  and  middle 
ranks  of  the  public  at  large,  it  would  not  live  an 
hour.  This  every  individual,  acquainted  with  the 
resources  of  the  parish  in  which  it  stands,  must  know 
to  be  a  truth. 

I  have  often  thought,  that  it  would  be  a  most 
beneficial  and  charitable  improvement  on  the  present 
system,  were  all  the  Protestant  establishments  in 
this  city,  for  the  education  of  poor  infants,  consolida- 
ted into  a  few,  on  an  extensive  scale;  into  which  ad- 
mission should  be  given  without  distinction  of  pa- 
rishes. By  this  means,  protection  would  be  extended, 
in  the  proportion  it  ought,  to  those  impoverished 
quarters  where  destitute  infants  swarm,  and  are  ne 
cessitous  to  a  degree  that  excites  equal  astonishment 
and  horror:    and.   what  I  conceive   to  be  a  much 

2  Q 


310 

greater  evil,  live  in  the  very  focus  of  all  contagion, 
all  impurity,  immoral  and  treasonable.  For  no  man 
can  be  ignorant,  or  can  deny,  that  all  the  experience 
we  have  in  this  metropolis,  of  violated  laws  and 
violated  peace,  has  issued  from  those  too- much-ne- 
glected and  proscribed  hives  of  every  desperate,  fu- 
rious, and  sanguinary  passion. 

Thus,  indeed,  would  the  end  of  education  be  hap- 
pily answered,  and  that  duty  and  attachment  to  par- 
ticular establishments,  which  a  residence  in  this  or 
that  parish  creates,  be  changed  into  interest  for  the 
general  object. 

I  would  submit  it  to  the  impartial  reason  of  any 
individual,  whether  the  parish,  whose  advocate  1 
now  am,  which  has  contained  for  many  years  past 
a  population  of  twenty  thousand  souls,  (though  now 
diminished,  as  to  male  adults,  from  a  cause  which 
I  shall  hereafter  mention,)  and  those  generally  of  a 
cast  the  most  abject  and  miserable,  ought,  in  the  eye 
of  policy,  religion,  or  humanity,  to  be  confined  to  an 
institution  of  twenty  children? 

Yet  so  it  is  ;  and  I  bless  the  great  God  of  mercy, 
and  sovereign  protector  of  society,  that  1  have  found, 
in  the  humanity  of  the  public  at  large,  means  of  ac- 
complishing so  much.  But,  striking  as  the  necessity 
of  my  case  is,  what  increase  must  it  not  have  receiv- 
ed from  the  multitude  of  wretches  under  charges  too 
notoriously  founded,  whom  the  peculiar  mercy  of 
Government  has  Buffered  to  pass  into  the  service  of 


311 

the  army  or  navy :  and  still  more,  who,  though  na 
way  implicated,  have  voluntarily  embraced  the  same 
resource,  and  equally  left  their  families  to  their  fate, 
from  positive  inability  to  procure  them  any  thing  like 
support,  under  the  excessive  price  of  every  thins; 
necessary  to  keep  body  and  soul  together  !  The  con- 
sequence of  this  is  as  clear,  as  it  is  shocking  to  every 
feeling  of  humanity.  I  will  not  attempt  to  describe 
it,  my  brethren.  Whatever  the  colour  of  the  extrem- 
ity may  be.  when  families  are  stripped  of  their  only 
stay,  I  know  enough  of  your  hearts  to  say,  that  "  you 
"  too  are  painters."  For  me  it  is  sufficient  to  state 
facts ;  sufficient  to  shew  that,  on  a  case  which  you 
always  knew  and  admitted  to  be  palpably  extreme, 
God  has  stamped  new  and  inscrutable  demonstration* 

For  you  it  is  to  conceive,  if  the  number  of  most 
wretched  infants,  who  before  looked  up  to  the  chance 
of  being  admitted  into  the  bosom  of  this  little  insti- 
tution, wrung  the  bosom  of  the  beholder,  what  it  must 
be  now,  under  the  additional  load  of  distress  that  has 
come  upon  their  district.  I  do  solemnly  declare, 
that,  when  1  am  called  upon  to  fill  a  vacancy  among 
the  few  you  behold,  I  deem  it  almost  as  much.cruel- 
ty  as  mercy  to  make  an  election  :  when  I  look  to  the 
How  of  tears,  the  depth  of  sorrow,  the  disappointed 
aspect  of  that  wretchedness,  which  hard  necessity 
obliges  me  to  reject ;  if  I  rejoice  one  poor  creature, 
and  the  palpitating  heart  of  the  mother  who  bore  it, 
I  deliver  innumerable  others  to  increased  misery  and 
despair. 


512 

You  will  judge,  therefore,  whether  or  not,  I  im- 
plore you  on  substantial  grounds,  to  continue,  at 
least  the  past  measure  of  your  favours  to  this  insti- 
tution. Should  God  inspire  you,  from  what  you  have 
heard,  to  do  more,  you  shall  see,  you  shall  enjoy  the 
effect  of  it  on  our  next  appearance  before  you.  It 
has  been  the  fortune  of  my  life  to  lead  you,  step  by 
step,  to  great  things  in  behalf  of  many  similar  insti- 
tutions. Why  should  I  not,  under  God,  look  for 
the  same  fortune  in  a  case  like  this  ?  Unless  it  be 
true,  that  divine  religion  and  divine  humanity  lose 
their  iniluence  in  proportion  to  the  maguitude  and. 
sublimity  of  the  call  upon  them  ! 

I  am  not  cool  enough,  on  these  occasions,  to  weigh 
the  chance  of  distant  casualty :  that  is,  to  bestow  a 
thought  on  the  possibility  of  your  receding  at  a  fu- 
ture day.  My  duty  and  my  feelings  impel  me  to 
employ  every  nerve  of  my  strength,  not  only  in  the 
relief  of  the  objects  before  me,  but  of  the  liviog  and 
unparalleled  misery  in  the  eye  of  my  mind. 

Futurity  will  provide  for  itself.  The  orphan  will 
have  t^ie  same  God  !  What,  though  1  have  recentlj 
seen  the  school  of  the  parish  in  which  1  stand,  fail- 
ing to  draw  sufficiency  for  its  support?  Have  I  not 
likewise  seen,  that  no  sooner  has  this  apparent  mis- 
fortune been  generally  made  known,  than  relief  be- 
gan to  flow  in  its  wonted  profusion  ? 

"  Men  of  little  faith,"   Irani   more  confidence  in 
Him  who  has  said,   "that  i^otheis  should  abandon 


313 

"  th^ir  babes,  but  the  work  he  has  raised  shall  never 
"■be -abandoned."  I  adjure  you,  therefore,  without 
dread  of  future  consequence,  to  meet  the  necessity 
I  laid  before  you  as  it  ought  to  be  met.  Let  such 
an  example  prove  that  decided  attention  to  the  gene- 
ral objects  shall  at  length  become  predominant,  and 
generations  yet  unborn  will  bless  the  reign  of  such  a 
sentiment. 

I  know  that  a  congregation  variously  composed, 
must  be  various  in  its  efforts ;  but  one  additional 
shilling,  from  those  who  have  little,  will  mark  the  in- 
fluence of  reason,  and  justice,  and  true  mercy,  in 
this  case,  as  powerfully  as  twenty  additional  guineas 
from  the  opulent  and  great.  Were  I  inclined  to 
add  to  an  infinitude  of  motives,  1  might  still  say, 
what  must  deeply  interest  every  true  lover  of  his 
country  and  the  empire,  that  there  is  scarcely  one  of 
those  children,  and  few  in  the  multitude  for  whom 
I  still  more  warmly  plead,  who  are  not  born  of  fa- 
thers, who  either  actually  serve,  or  have  perished  in 
the  service  of  their  country. 

I  remember,  during  our  civil  contest  for  every 
thing  dear  and  sacred  to  the  heart  of  civilized  and 
religious  man,  that  the  representation  of  this  single 
claim  would  produce,  on  the  spot,  a  contribution  of 
twelve  hundred  pounds. 

Is  our  present  contest  less  sublime  and  awful  ? 
Would  the  soil  we  tread  have  less  horrors  to  appre- 
hend in  the  event  of.. a  triumphant  invader?  Great 


314 

God !  what  havoc  does  ambition  make  among  thy 
works  ?  I  see  it  sitting  at  this  moment,  in  ghastly 
triumph;  on  a  throne  still  wet  with  the  blood  of  its 
rightful  possessor !  I  see  it  dragging  hoary  and  trem- 
bling religion  from  a  distant  region,  and  forcing  it  to 
the  guilt  and  baseness  of  consecrating  this  foul  usur- 
pation 1  I  see,  of  surrounding  nations,  some  chained 
to  its  footstool,  and  ground  to  the  very  dust  in  its 
pillage  and  rapacity ;  some  compelled  to  wield  their 
energies  in  support  of  its  crimes ;  some  still  permit- 
ted to  breathe  by  its  insulting  forbearance;  and  in 
the  midst  of  all  this,  I  hear  it  mocking  the  under- 
standing and  feeling  of  mankind,  by  the  specious 
accents  of  peace  and  philanthropy. 

.Excuse  these  reflections,  my  brethren  !  They  are 
only  offered  to  shew  what  God  has  destined  us  to 
resist,  and  that  if  ever  there  were  cause  for  glorious 
pride  in  the  human  soul,  every  member  of  this  em- 
pire, even  the  most  abject,  should  feel  it  when  he 
looks  at  the  stand  it  makes  at  this  solemn  day.  The 
unshaken,  the  solitary  bulwark  of  religion,  of  free- 
dom, of  property,  of  life,  against  the  scourge,  the 
Attila  of  the  world  ! 

Let  this  exalted  consideration  swell  your  munifi- 
cence on  this  occasion,  as  it  should  swell  your  hearts, 
if  you  be  sensible  of  the  overflowing  and  singular 
wretchedness  that  looks  up  to  you  this  day.  Re- 
member likewise,  that  it  bears  a  distinction  that  can- 
not be  contemplated  by  the  patriot,  by  the  Christian, 
without  a  feeling  of  extraordinary  interest  and  af- 


315 

fection.  Remember  not  the  character  or  offences  of 
their  fathers ;  for  one  drop  of  blood,  shed  in  such  a 
cause,  might  almost  atone  before  God  and  man  for 
years  of  iniquity. 

What  have  I  left  unsaid  that  could  be  said  in  such 
a  cause  ?  Nothing  can  I  collect,  from  the  general 
countenance  around  me,  that  my  hopes  shall  be  dis- 
appointed. Yes,  my  brethren,  1  am  full  of  confi- 
dence :  even  from  this  pulpit  I  can  see  that  the  only 
enemy  it  has,  namely,  the  whisper  of  the  world  and 
and  its  little  iuterest,  the  God  of  mercy  has  enabled 
me  to  vanquish.  My  whole  soul,  I  confess,  is  en- 
gaged in  the  success  of  this  particular  appeal  to  you. 
What  could  have  inspired  me  with  more  earnestness 
than  I  have  ever  before  shewn,  but  an  uncommon 
cause  ?  Would  it  be  new  to  me  to  succeed  in  the 
cause  of  unprotected  innocence  ?  Oh  no,  my  brethren. 
Nothing  I  repeat,  nothing  but  a  case,  in  all  its  views, 
the  most  interesting  and  calamitous,  Could  have  given 
a  spring  to  my  feelings,  and  redoubled  ardour  and 
perseverance  to  my  entreaties. 

May  the  God  of  soeiety,  and  the  Father  of  the 
fatherless,  be  in  every  heart  here  present,  the  giver 
on  this  day,  and  it  will  be  a  day  registered  in  letters 
of  everlasting  light,  in  that  blessed  region  to  which 
we  all  aspire,  and  to  which  we  shall  thus  arrive, 
through  the  infinite  mercies  of  Jesus  Christ,  Ova 
Saviour  and  Redeemer. 


316 

And  now  to  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and 
God  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  for 
ever  and  ever.    Amen. 


FINIS. 


Joseph  Kakestraw,  Printer, 
Philadelphia. 


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